Lemon Tart with Candied Lemons
Comments(33)
Mmm, I love lemons! Sometimes only seen as the sour yellow cousin of the mighty orange or the accompanying friend in many an alcoholic beverage. They are one of the very few fruits which can be used well in both sweet and savoury dishes and they are available all year long.
I’ve used them as the star in a few recipes on this blog (see here and here) and once again, the spotlight is on them. The cooler months produce the best citrus and this winter, the lemons have been absolute beauties.
So, what to make with the big bag of lemons I bought from the market last week? A lemon tart of course! This humble tart has kind of lost it’s popularity throughout the last decade and I don’t really know why. You can’t really go wrong with a slice of rich buttery pâte sablée encasing a delicious, tangy lemony filling. It makes me drool even just writing about it!
It’s a shame the lemon tart isn’t as popular as it used to be. Bring back the lemon tart I say, let it reign supreme once again!
Lemon Tart with Candied Lemons
Adapted from a recipe in Australian Gourmet Traveller, August 2008.
4 eggs
400ml cream
150g caster sugar
4 lemons, juiced
zest of 2 lemons
Candied lemons
2 small lemons, thinly sliced
250g caster sugar
Pastry
(I used the pastry recipe in my mango tart recipe)
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ cup icing sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
125g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg yolk
- Process all ingredients for the lemon filling in a food processor until just combined. Transfer to a large jug or bowl and refrigerate until the froth separates from the liquid. This should take a few hours.
- For the candied lemons, place lemon slices in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then drain and repeat 4 times. Combine sugar and 250ml water in a separate saucepan, bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, then add lemon slices and cook over low heat until tender and translucent (30-40 minutes). Cool.
- For the pastry, whizz the flour, sugar, butter, salt and zest Add the butter and whizz until it becomes pebbly, with large bits and small bits. Add the egg yolk and a tablespoon of water and combine until the dough comes together. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and lightly knead for a minute. Wrap the dough up and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Roll the dough out between two sheets of non-stick paper and line a 22cm (9 inch) fluted flan tin. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill and rest. Remove the lined tin from the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C. Blind bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the exposed edges are a very light brown. Remove the baking paper and weights. Reduce the oven temperature to 150°. Meanwhile, skim top of lemon filling to remove froth, pour into pastry case and bake until just set (30-40 minutes). Cool to room temperature in tart tin, place candied lemons on top and serve.
Serves 8.
this tart is absolutely gorgeous. love the candied lemons; they add such a delicate touch.
xx
I personally love the way the lemon cream blends in with the buttery tart crust. Both flavors are balanced and go so well together. Sadly, I’ve only made a lemon tart once but I want to try my hand at it again… Doesn’t this tart just symbolize summer?!
I love lemon tart! This one looks so classy and wonderful.
A wonderful and terribly tempting tart! I love anything lemony! It looks very pretty too…
Cheers,
Rosa
What a lovely (and practical) site! (I’ve just bookmarked it.)
Baking has been one of my favorite hobbies, but as a working mother, I have been too busy for quite a while to bake from scratch. But looking at these recipes –and eye-catching photos — makes me want to “revisit” the kitchen and take out the long untouched rolling pin, etc. To be honest, lemon tart has never been my favorite, but this one (beautifully made!) is tempting. I will share this site with my kids, and they will undoubtedly point to some recipes begging Mama to make them.
That tart looks picture perfect. So beautiful with the candied lemons on them. I think I NEED a tart pan now. :)
I have that issue!! Doesn’t the lemon tart look divine in the magazine?? I think lemon tart is one of my favourite things to eat…though they can taste so bad if not made properly…but yours look awesome, and i’m sure it tasted fantastic!!
GORGEOUS tart! I love the candied lemon slices on top. I agree, we should definitely bring lemon tarts back :)
I’m a complete sucker for anything lemon, too – love it!
And I saw this tart on their website and was dreaming about it. Yours looks amazing!
Amazing tart! And it’s sliced so perfectly! I didn’t know the lemon tart has faded in popularity, but it looks like you’re doing a great job of bringing it back! Beauty!
That tart looks phenomenal! Wow!
Your tart looks beautiful. I love the color yellow so sunny and bright. I’m with on “bring back the lemon tart” or even the lemon bars! Was your tart on the sweet side or did it have a nice bite to it? The ones that I have had an opportunity to eat recently have not been very tart.
My youngest wanted to make lemon bars out of “her” cookbook but I’m gonna see if I could sway her over to this instead. ;-)
Ingrid
it looks so pretty i wouldnt have the heart to eat it. Just picture perfect… the textures, the colour, the presentation- all beautiful. I love candies citruses …. last i tried candied oranges with walnut cake and i amazed myself.
Oh the candied lemons look so amazing that I really want to pop one into my mouth…
yeah, actually the whole thing looks so good I want to eat it! I am definitely going to have to try candying lemons.
I love the picture and I love lemon tarts, they are my favourite! I’m going to have to try your recipe, I have yet been able to master making them.
Can’t think of anyone who doesn’t love a slice of lemon tart. The candied lemon slices are a nice addition.
I love lemons in all sorts or desserts and others so seeing this right before breakfast is just perfect sweet torture! The tart looks so pristine! Gorgeous…
oh my gosh…. i was just thinking about lemon tart the other day.. and today when i come to your website… u have the recipe of lemon tart…. hmmm… yum yumm…. gonna make one this weekend…
The candied lemon slices look amazing, and I suspect I will be putting them in everything I make for the next few days.
I love lemon desserts. Your tart looks amazing!
really beautiful. happy to have just discovered your blog!
What a luxurious tart! It looks so creamy and silky, and not at all harsh. Bookmarked!
Hello again! I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but I just wanted to tell you, I gave you an award on my blog (here). Don’t feel like you have to participate, I just wanted to say how much I like your blog!
Wow! Thos candied lemons look divine!
Sounds so yummy!
Oh my, this looks delicious!
What a beautiful looking tart. Nicely done.
Dear Linda, may I repost (and put a link to) your candied lemon recipe in my blog? Thanks! :-)
Sure you can! :)
I am a little late to the game it seems…just found your blog. The candied lemons are something I would love to try – my husband is a lemon freak. Thanks for the recipe.
[...] Anyway, here’s the recipe I got from Epicurious: Lemon Pound Cake with Candied Lemons [...]
[...] Go figure. And then, when I realized that it wasn’t really all that bad, I decided to make candied lemons to go on top of it. That’s a whole other ball of wax, but they came out fine. Brandon [...]
did you use heavy whipping cream?
Hi Grace, I just used regular thickened cream.