
I am here to do your bidding. (Re-edited for clarity.)
This is an amalgam of several recipes, and is essentially a shortbread crust filled with lemon curd and baked. It's foolproof (see note about tools) and simpler than it looks. It's indescribably good. Impressive, too. Especially if you artfully drizzle fresh berry syrup over it, with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Or not.
So, go gather your ingredients and tools.![IMG_1457[1]](..\..\.a\6a00e55239d3088834011168d12310970c-320wi.jpg)
Crust
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon cream (I suppose you could use milk...)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut up
Curd
7 egg yolks plus 2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup lemon zest
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cream (or half & half if you must)
Tools
tart pan with removable bottom
nonreactive saucepan and wooden/silicone spoon
(I can't guarantee your results if you don't use the following, but they're not absolutely necessary:)
food processor
candy thermometer
pie weights (or dried beans/rice)
parchment paper (or foil)
microplane
mesh sieve
Make the crust first, as it takes awhile to chill and pre-bake.
Pre-Baked Shortbread Crust
If you've never made piecrust before, start with a cookbook, as I'm keeping this short on technique.
Whisk the yolk, cream and vanilla together, set aside. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in the food processor to blend. Cut up the butter in pieces and drop in. Pulse or cut in to the size of cornmeal. Add the yolk stuff and blend until it forms a ball. If it's too dry, add a little bit of cream/milk a teaspoon at a time. Take it out, form into a ball, and chill for 20 minutes or so.
Take out the chilled dough and form the crust. I use the patting method so I don't have to get out the rolling pin, but you can roll if you want to. (Quick chorus of The B-52's here) Make sure to go up the sides of the pan.
Cut the parchment or foil to fit the tart pan including up the sides. Fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice.
Bake at 375 deg for 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights and parchment and bake another 6-8 minutes til very lightly brown.
Curd
Juice and zest the lemons using a microplane or grater. Whisk the first four ingredients together briefly, then pour in a saucepan with the butter. Heat slowly, stirring constantly, until it gets saucy and registers 175 deg. on the candy thermometer. edited: Whoops! Forgot the cream. It gets stirred in now.
If you're really picky, strain the mixture first, then pour into the still-warm crust and bake at 375 deg. for about 10 minutes. You want the middle of the pie to still be a little jiggly.
Remove, cool for an hour or so. If you've baked it in advance, you can lay a piece of waxed paper right on the top to keep it nice.
Before serving, dust the top with confectioner's sugar through a sieve. Drizzle with berry sauce.
Add little poufs of whipped cream, lemon twists, berries. Go wild.
Feel proud and enjoy.
Next up: Henry's favorite breakfasts...
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