Sunday, April 7, 2013

Tarte au citron

My parents are visiting from the UK & luckily my mums birthday is today, which means I get to celebrate with her (I've missed the last 5 birthdays since living in Melbourne).



I promised my mum before she arrived that I would make her whatever dessert she wanted for her birthday dinner, her favourite flavour is lemon so naturally I decided to make her a citrusy lemon tart.




I always think gluten free pastry tends to be quite bland & heavy but there is a fabulous recipe for sweet tarts on the Cannelle et Vanille blog.


I found a multitude of recipes for lemon curd & tart filling but in the end I used a recipe from my 'Essential Baking' cookbook which sounded perfectly tart & not too sweet.

Happy birthday mum & I hope you enjoy your special dessert tonight!

You will need:
Pastry mix - see recipe as per the Cannelle et Vanille blog
5 small tart cases
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
175g caster sugar
125ml light pouring cream
100ml lemon juice
1.5 tbspn finely grated lemon zest

Lemons to decorate the tart:
2 small lemons
140g caster sugar
200ml of water


Method:
Make the pastry recipe and place in the fridge for one hour. Once pastry has cooled knead lightly & roll small batches for your tart tins.

Pierce a few small holes in the tarts with a fork, cover with baking paper & fill the tins with tart weights or dried beans. Bake the tart cases at 180C for 15 minutes then remove the baking paper & weights, bake for another 5 minutes then remove from oven & leave to cool.

While the tart cases are cooling start to make the lemon filling.

Whisk the eggs, extra yolks & caster sugar together. Add the cream & lemon juice & mix well. Strain the mixture then add the lemon zest.

When the tart shells are cool fill them to the top with the lemon mixture & bake for 30mins at 150C until the filling is set & slightly wobbly in the middle.

While the tarts are baking you can prepare the lemons for decorating. Wash the 2 small lemons & slice very thinly. Combine the sugar & water is a small saucepan on a gentle heat.




Place sliced lemons in the saucepan & leave to gently simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the pith looks translucent & tender. Remove lemons from the pan & place the slices individually on baking paper to dry.

Decorate the tarts before serving and enjoy!



4 comments:

  1. So glad i found your blog. my 9 months old baby is still not allowed gluten and wheat flour yet. i need gf recipes!

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    1. Thanks crustabakes, hope its useful, I noticed several baby friendly recipes on your blog which I'll be using when my little bub is here and starting to eat solids-only 5 weeks ish to go! :)

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  2. Hello Julie! What a gorgeous recipe! I bet your mam loved it. I'm hungry just thinking about it. Your photos look beautiful too. Lots of love x x x x

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    1. Hi Lauren, thanks for commenting, my mam loved it, they are back home now was awful saying goodbye but hopefully they will be back before the end of the year to see baby! Xxxx

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