That delicious lemon tart i had in Melbourne a couple of months has been on my brain lately. And we all know what you have to do when you’ve got something on the brain- you indulge in it till you can’t bear the thought of going near it for the next two months.
So make a lemon tart i did happily, having had my eye on this particular recipe for some time now.
This lemon tart was soo good and so easy to make. As the tart is apparently best eaten the day it’s baked, i made both the filling and the dough as well as partially baked the pastry the day before. The pastry was such a dream to work with, incredibly easy to roll out and came off the plastic wrap i rolled it on in one piece fairly easily. It might just become the pastry recipe i’ll use from now on.
Instead of serving it with fresh blueberries like Flo suggests, I caramelized the tart which i thought went really well with the silky, slighty tart filling and rich pastry. I used my new tart pan- instant elegance!- and had enough pastry and filling for an additional 7″ tart as well. I also noticed the pastry shrunk slightly in the oven so perhaps i should leave a little excess pastry hanging over the sides of the pan the next time before partially baking it to get a tart with more filling.
I’ve sure as hell had my fill of lemon tarts for a while now but once that has passed, i sure know how i’ll be getting my next fix 
Lemon Tart [adapted from Flo Braker's The Simple Art of Perfect Baking]
Ingredients
2 large eggs
3/4 cup castor sugar
6 tbsp lemon juice
60g butter, melted
2 tsp lemon zest
Pastry
225g unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp water
- To make pastry Whisk the dry ingredients together and place them on a clean work surface. In a medium-sized bowl, lightly whisk egg and vanilla together before rubbing the butter in with your fingertips till a paste forms. Make a well in the flour mixture and pouring egg mixture in, draw the flour mixture in and combine well with your fingers. A soft, smooth and pliable dough should form. Add water a little at a time if dough appears too dry. Separate the dough into two equal portions, wrapping each in plastic wrap. Place one portion in the fridge for at least an hour and the other in the freezer for future use.
- Preheat the oven to 175C. Take the dough out from the fridge and let stand at room temperature till pliable. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out into a circle about 11″ wide and 1/8″ thick. Gently lift the dough over a 9″ tart pan, set it down and roll your rolling pin over the edges of the pan to get rid of the excess pastry. Prick pastry gently all over and bake in the centre of the oven for about 12 minutes or till pastry looks set and is no longer shiny. Remove pan from heat.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a medium bowl till well combined. Add lemon juice, zest and butter and whisk well. Pour filling into pastry case and bake for about 15 minutes till crust is golden brown and filling appears set. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
