When I found out that the theme of Chatelaine’s cooking club challenge this month was lemons, I had to participate because I love lemons. I seriously can eat them like oranges. I guess my palette, like my heart is bitter. (joking!) I haven’t met a lemon desert I don’t love. The way it works is that they give you three lemon recipes to choose from and you have to pick on, give it a shot and share your results. I decided to go with the classic lemon tart. Continue reading to see the recipe and ‘how to’ steps.

I followed the full recipe and instructions from the Chatelaine website. The only thing I did differently is use a rectangle tart pan instead of round. Oh and because I’m lemon crazy I added quite a bit more lemon zest for extra tartiness.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest, about 1 lemon
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
 FOR FILLING:
2 eggs
5 egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup 35% cream
2/3 cup lemon juice, about 3 lemons
 icing sugar for dusting

Start by cutting & juicing your lemons and enjoy the lovely fresh smell.

FOR THE CRUST (as per Chatelaine’s recipe):

• Position rack in bottom of oven. Preheat to 350F.
• Combine flour with sugar and lemon zest in a food processor and whirl until mixed.
• Add butter and egg yolk. Whirl just until crumbs start to clump together, about 1 min.
• Transfer dough to centre of a 9-in. tart pan with removable bottom.
• Press dough from middle of pan to edges. Using fingertips, press dough up edges of pan until even with rim.
• Line pastry with a large sheet of parchment paper. Fill with dried beans or pie weights to hold pastry in place while it bakes. Place tart pan on a baking sheet. Bake on bottom rack 25 min.

FOR THE FILLING:

• Whisk eggs and egg yolks with sugar in a large bowl until mixed.
• Whisk in cream, then lemon juice.

• After crust has baked 25 min, remove parchment and beans.
• Pour filling through a sieve into crust. Return tart (on baking sheet) to bottom rack and bake until edges of filling start to bubble and centre looks smooth, 30 min.

• Filling should jiggle a bit when pan is lightly shaken. Cool completely on a rack.
• Refrigerate at least 1 hour to set filling. To unmold tart, rest pan on an overturned bowl and let rim slip away from base. Loosen tart from the base with a thin metal spatula. Sift icing sugar overtop just before serving. Will keep well, refrigerated, up to 2 days.

I have to say, this went extremely smoothly for a first recipe attempt, no issues. And I can say that the results were beyond my expectations. Delicious!

If you enjoyed this, you can find more recipes here.