This lemon tart is like a giant circle of lemon bars, with a shortbread crust and a custardy lemon filling. If that interests you, read on, friend.
Some lemon bars err on the sweet side, and others on the tart end. This dessert really straddles that line, but slightly errs on the tart side. However, that may differ if you use Meyer lemons. Alison says that either Meyer or regular lemons work here. I could not find any Meyer lemons, so opted for regular. But I am now quite convinced that the slight sour edge to this dessert would have been fixed if I had used Meyer lemons (which are really a hybrid of lemon and mandarin/pomelo, making them sweeter).
Before preparing anything else, I sliced a lemon very thinly, and marinated the slices in a cup of sugar and lemon juice. These need to sit for at least an hour to soften and sweeten before baking.
The shortbread crust is simple - flour, confectioner’s sugar, salt and melted butter, all mixed to a greasy Play-doh consistency and spread out in the tart pan to bake. I swapped GF flour for regular all-purpose here, with no issues. Xanthan gum, which is used in GF baking to help form structure, is not needed here, since the crust doesn’t really need to rise. The crust bakes first in the oven, until a light golden brown.
Once the slices finished marinating, I made the filling. Egg yolks, whole eggs, and a bit of flour and salt combine to form a smooth yellow mixture, to which I added the lemons slices, juice and sugar. I mixed it all by hand, then poured the filling into the crust and put it in the oven to bake until it didn’t jiggle in the middle.
There seemed to be an odd ratio mix-up, and I’m not sure if it’s me or the recipe. I used a 9-inch tart pan as instructed (this is also my only tart pan). But once I filled the crust, there was about 20% of filling still leftover. It posed a bit of a mess since I wasn’t expecting it. I’m curious if others have had the same issue. If you make this recipe, my advice is to pour slowly and cautiously.
I shared this tart with Jordan, Gina, Madeline and Sam, and all of us agreed that the crust was excellent, the filling a nice blend of sour and sweet, but the lemon slices were too sour all together. Again, I think this was an issue of not using Meyer lemons. So word to the wise, hold out until you can find Meyer lemons for this lovely tart.
72 recipes cooked, 153 to go.
