If you’re like me, with a fruity sweet tooth just waiting to sink into some delicious desserts, then this one’s for you. What I love about this easy lemon tart recipe is that you can play around with the toppings so you can serve both beautiful and delicious desserts. And I want to share that same experience with you, too!
Classic Lemon Tart
Tarte Au Citron is the French name for Lemon Tart, which during the old times, was served to a king as a token that symbolizes prosperity and integrity. The classic lemon tart consists of lemon-flavored filling and a crumbly-textured shortcrust pastry.
Pies vs Tarts
A tart is a culinary term derived from the French “Tarte” which literally translates to pie. (Whaaat?? Okay, keep reading.) However, there is a distinctive difference between the two. A tart is made out of 3 parts which are the shortbread crust, the filling, and the toppings which totally depends on your preference. In a nutshell, pies are covered with a thin sheet of dough while tarts are open and topped with fruits.
Recipe Ingredients
This pastry may look that daunting to make, but it’s actually easier than you think it is. Here’s what you need for this summer treat.
Tart Crust – rich in flavor because of its butter content. It has a coarse texture when made which you can easily press on to baking pans to mold it.
Lemon Curd
Lemon – use around 4 pieces, then zest it first before juicing to make the most out of it! And of course, it gives the overall citrusy flavor for this tart.Granulated Sugar – a staple ingredient in every dessert, pastry, and baking. It adds a nice sweetness to it and that lovely golden brown caramelization.Salt – this adds flavor to the crust and also enhances the sweet and tangy flavors of the lemon curd.Unsalted Butter – cut it into small pieces so it’d easily blend in when making the lemon curd. I used unsalted butter because, yep you’ve guessed it, coz we already have salt in the recipe. Eggs – it gives a rich flavor and binds the ingredients for making the lemon curd filling. But always make sure to keep them at room temperature. See “Tips And Tricks” section below.
Recipe Variations
Tips and Tricks
Serving and Storage Instructions
Freezer Refrigerator Reheating Before reheating it, you must make sure to set the lemon tart is at room temperature. Then bake it in a 240℉ preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until warm. Serve and enjoy!
More Easy Desserts
Lemon Bar Milk TartLemon Sour Cream Pound Cake Fruit Tart
How To Make Lemon Tart
Tart Crust
Make the tart crust. Prepare your homemade tart crust in the pie/tart pan. See the full recipe and instructions here 一Tart Crust. (Photos 1-4)Bake the tart crust. While baking the crust, you can now start preparing the lemon curd filling.
Lemon Curd Filling
Cook the lemon and butter mixture. In a medium saucepan, combine lemon juice and zest, sugar, salt, and butter. Place the saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, and butter melted. Set aside. (Photos 1-2)Temper the egg mixture. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and egg yolks until blended. Temper the egg mixture by adding a little of the butter mixture to the eggs. You do not want to cook the eggs. (Photos 3-5)Add the tempered egg mixture to the butter mixture. Return tempered egg mixture to saucepan, and place over low heat. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency; do not let it boil, or the lemon curd will curdle. Remove from heat and continue to stir to stop the cooking. (Photo 6)Transfer the lemon curd to a bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, and let it cool for at least an hour. (Or you can store it at this point in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for up to 2 months.)
Lemon Tart Assembly
Fill the tart crust with lemon curd and chill. Once it has cooled down at room temperature, fill the baked tart crust with the lemon curd and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until the curd is chilled. (Photos 1-3)Add the toppings. You can cover it with powdered sugar and top it with your favorite berries. (Photo 4)
Watch How to Make it
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”Dl1K2eCH” upload-date=”2021-08-22T15:03:31.000Z” name=”LEMON TART” description=”This sweet bright classic Lemon Tart with soft lemon curd filling and buttery crumbly crust is definitely a total melt-in-your-mouth experience. Add this easy treat to your arsenal of sweet, summery, bright, and sensational comfort food right away!” player-type=”static”] This blog post was first published in August 2020 and has been updated with additional tips and a video.
