CHRISTINE CAPENDALE
CHRISTINE CAPENDALE
CHRISTINE CAPENDALE

Tart Aux Citron

1

  • Overview
  • Ingredients
    10 items
  • Directions

This Tart au Citron is a classic French dessert featuring a buttery pastry filled with a tangy lemon custard.

Pastry

  • 250g flour
  • 150g butter
  • 30ml icing sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 egg

Filling

  • 350g (about 8) eggs
  • 250g castor sugar
  • 200g crème fraîche
  • 200ml lemon juice
  • 1 egg white

TO MAKE THE PASTRY

  • Place the flour, butter, icing sugar and zest in a food processor and pulse to mix well (coarse crumbs).
  • Add the egg mixture slowly while pulsing slowly – until the pastry forms a ball. Form pastry into a disc of about 15 cm in diameter, cover and place in fridge for 30 minutes before use.
  • Preheat the oven to 170° Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper or on a floured worktop to about 4mm thick.
  • Lightly prick pastry with a fork (not too much).
  • Place pastry in a 24 cm-diameter, greased, loose bottomed pie dish, leaving pastry hanging over the edges. Press pastry into the edges of the tin (use a ball of excess pastry). Place in fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Line pastry case with foil, fill with baking beads, and blind-bake until pastry is cooked through (about 30 minutes). Remove baking beads and foil, reduce oven to 150°C and bake until golden brown and crisp.
  • Patch any holes with left over pastry and brush with the whisked egg white inside the tart (will prevent filling seeping into pastry). Return to the oven for about 2 minutes. Cool.

START WITH YOUR FILLING

  • Whisk eggs lightly to break up. Add castor sugar and stir with a whisk (do not beat – you do not want to incorporate air bubbles) until sugar starts to dissolve and mixture is glossy and syrup-like. Set aside, stirring occasionally, until sugar is completely dissolved (about 30 minutes). Whisk crème fraîche in another bowl with a little of the egg mixture to just loosen. Add lemon juice to egg mixture, then add crème fraîche a little at a time. Keep aside.
  • Leave oven at 150°C
  • Skim foam off the filling, pour into a jug and fill the tart case.
  • Bake until the tart is set (about 30 minutes)
  • Cool tart for 5 minutes, then trim the overhanging crust with a sharp knife.
  • Cool tart for at least one hour before removing from the tin. Dust with some more CASTOR SUGAR and use a blowtorch to scorch the sugar to make a thin, crispy crust.
  • Serve with whipped cream on the side.