Tarty Lemon Tart – Going Back To The Basics

This weekend, we are planning to celebrate the naughty little boy’s 10 year old birthday. He’s a grown boy now, so he has many wishes he would like to fulfill this time. Some of these wishes are the same as previous years – soccer jerseys, soccer balls, toy cars etc. Till date, I think he has got most of his wishes. But he is still very naughty so he needs to wait for other things to come.

This year, I am baking for him a tart with a lemon custard. It’s not too difficult because I’ve done the tart pastry many times. The custard is tedious mainly because of the efforts to grate the lemon rind and squeeze out the juice. But the efforts are worth it, because it tastes exactly like those lemon tarts that we have for tea when we go out for afternoon hunts and walks. The tartness is just right, and the pastry is buttery and soft. And it’s nice to have especially with coffee. Mmmmm…

So I hope he likes it, and I wish the boy a happy and healthy childhood.

Ingredients: (Tart Pastry)

• Egg yolk: 3
• Vanilla seeds: from 1 pod
• Plain flour: 250g
• Icing sugar: 50g
• Unsalted butter: 125g

Method: (Tart Pastry)

1. Beat egg yolks and vanilla seeds in a mixer till light and creamy.
2. Sieve plain flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl.
3. Rub butter into flour mixture.
4. Gently combine egg mixture with flour mixture. Knead to form dough.
5. Place in cling wrap and chill for 1 hr.
6. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
7. Remove dough from fridge. Leave to room temperature.
8. Roll out to 3mm thick. Line a 25-cm pastry tin with pastry dough, carefully kneading dough into sides of tin and pushing the dough upwards till it is a few mm above the tin.
9. Blind bake for 12min.
10. Remove blind baking weights and bake another 10min till golden brown.
11. Leave to cool for 10 min.

Ingredients (Lemon Custard):

• Egg: 2, large
• Egg yolk: 7, large
• Caster sugar: 1 cup
• Lemon zest: 4 – 5 lemons
• Lemon juice: 4 – 5 lemons
• Salt: a pinch
• Unsalted butter: 57g (1/2 stick)
• Heavy cream: 8 tbsp (chilled)
• Powdered sugar (optional): 2 tbsp

Method (Lemon Custard):

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Whisk together eggs & egg yolks in a saucepan.
3. Whisk in sugar, followed by lemon zest, lemon juice & salt.
4. Add in butter. Place saucepan on a low heat. Cook till thick, about 5min.
5. Remove from heat. Strain into heatproof jug.
6. Stir in heavy cream. Pour into tart shell.
7. Bake 10-12 min till shiny, opaque and slightly jiggly.
8. Cool, then chill in fridge 1hr.
9. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

Serving:
1 x 25-cm tart (about 8 dessert slices)