Lemon Tarts

Lemon Tarts: A Tasty Treat

I found this recipe in a magazine about 4 years ago, it was an exert from a book called HEAT: The Way Forward is Good Food. The book is filled with recipes from renowned chefs Guy Grossi, Andrew McConnell, Luke Managan and Ian Curley. I don’t refer to the book often as I should. The reason being, that I love this recipe and don’t look at the rest. What I also like about this recipe is that you only have to separate one egg, and that’s the one for the egg wash. A few lemon tart recipes don’t use the whole egg. I find this inconvenient because I have to save the egg whites for a pavlova. If you love lemon tarts you will love these just as I do!

Lemon Tarts Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

Pastry

100g butter, softened
50g sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain flour, sifted
½ teaspoon milk

Filling

5 eggs
1 cup sugar
juice of 2 lemons
½ cup thickened cream

Method

Pastry

To make the pastry cases, cream butter and sugar in a bowl. Break in one egg and combine with the creamed butter mix. Add the flour and lightly mix to form dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the pastry to a thickness of 4 mm. Line four tart cases and chill for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 190° C. Line pastry cases with foil, fill with rice, then bake for 15 minutes. Separate the remaining egg, discard the white and whisk the yolk with the milk to make an egg wash. Remove the foil and rice and brush the cases with egg wash. Reduce the temperature to 170° C  and bake for a further five to seven minutes. Remove from the oven ready for filling.

Filling

Reduce the oven to 140° C
Break the eggs into a bowl, add sugar and lightly whisk until smooth and the sugar has dissolved. Mix the lemon juice with the egg mixture, stir in the cream and strain. Fill cases with the lemon filling and bake for 20 minutes at 140 C degrees or until just set. Serve with double cream.

Hints

If you dislike the “making pastry bit”, then buy some pre-made pastry cases from the supermarket
The pastry cases from the supermarket usually come in 6 packs therefore you can buy two packs and triple the filling ingredients
Left over filling can be frozen
Ideal as finger food for a party

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