Jill’s Lemon Tart
Description
Or…Anna Olson’s Tarte au Citron from her book, ‘Bake with Anna Olson’ – but Jill is the one who’s made this for me, upon request, more than once! I had a lemon tart posted from years ago, and I deleted it, this one is perfect. The pâte sablée (sandy dough) dough uses a sieved yolk from a hard boiled egg which is maybe what makes it so easy to work with? I made the dough and rolled it out the day before, but otherwise, plan to make, and chill, and serve this beauty all on the day that it’s made. Thanks so much to Jill for showing me the way! – enjoy!
Ingredients
Crust (also known as Pâte Sablée Dough) – Anna uses this exact recipe for her Empire Cookies
10 T. (143 g) butter, room temperature AND 10 T. (75 g) icing sugar, sifted
1 yolk from a large hard-boiled egg AND 1 raw yolk from a large egg
1/2 t. vanilla AND 1/4 t. salt
3/4 c. (207 g) cake and pastry flour, sifted (weigh the flour, then sift it)
Lemon Filling
3 eggs AND 3 egg yolks
3/4 c. (150 g) sugar
1 T. lemon zest AND 2/3 c. (160 g) freshly squeezed lemon juice
2/3 c. (151 g) butter, cut into pieces
1/2 c. (120 g) sour cream, room temperature
Instructions
For the crust – use your electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar together for a couple of minutes until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides at least once. Push the hard-boiled egg yolk through a fine-meshed sieve into a small bowl and stir in the raw yolk, vanilla and salt. Scrape the egg mix into the butter and sugar mix and stir well to combine.
Add in all of the sifted flour and stir, scraping down the bowl as needed, until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a largish disk and press it between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to roll this out in a thin, even thickness, to the size and shape of a 9-inch removable-bottom fluted tart pan, about a 12-inch circle. Carefully transfer the dough sheet (peel off one sheet of plastic wrap) to your tart pan and press it in, evenly and all over. Get each groove and be quick because the dough is soft. Trim any excess dough if you need to and then pierce the bottom several times with a fork or dock the dough. Chill for 1 hour, and wash the sieve, you’re going to need it for the filling.
Preheat the oven to 325, dock the pastry again, place the tart pan on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until the edges just begin to brown. Carefully move the tart pan onto a rack and leave it to cool to room temperature while you prepare the filling.
For the filling – use a double boiler if you have one, otherwise whisk together the eggs, yolks, sugar, zest and lemon juice in a metal bowl and then carefully place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Continue to whisk, and then after a minute whisk in the butter and keep whisking until the curd has thickened. This should take about 5 minutes.
Once the lemon goodness has obviously thickened, remove the metal bowl from the heat (turn off the pot of boiling water), and strain it through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and then immediately whisk in the sour cream. Scrape and pour the warm lemon filling into the room temperature tart shell, level it out, and chill, uncovered, for at least 2 hours. This is best the day that it’s made, but if you need to chill it overnight, remember that plastic wrap may fall and mark the perfect tart surface. I had no issues with removing the tart from the pan and cutting lovely slices – such a perfect dessert!
