The Best Lemon Tart Recipe

This truly is the best lemon tart recipe (tarte au citron) you'll ever make! The tart crust (pâte sucrée) is buttery and crisp and the mock crème fraîche is super creamy with a hint of tang. The lemon custard filling is the perfect amount of tart and sweet and has the texture of Crème Brûlée. The secret ingredient is heavy cream resulting in the smoothest, creamiest, dreamiest lemon tart you've had outside of the South of France.

 

To make a true classic lemon tart you begin by making the tart shell which is extremely simple. Just blend up everything in a food processor or stand mixer, let it chill for an hour, roll it out, then bake it in the tart pan. Baking the tart shell ahead of time (blind baking) will ensure the crust is nice and crisp before you add in the lemon custard filling for the final bake which only takes 20-30 minutes. 

You can top your lemon tart with some homemade crème fraîche or use the mock crème fraîche in this recipe and some freshly sliced lemons, strawberries, raspberries or even just a dusting of powdered sugar if you prefer. 

I brought two of these lemon tarts to my neighbor's Bastille Day celebration and I was so happy when it received rave reviews! Truly one of the most impressive lemon desserts you can make.

Lemon Tart Ingredients

• Organic Lemons - I learned on a recent trip to the Amalfi coast that using organic lemons can greatly improve the taste of your recipes if you are using the zest. Some grocery store lemons have wax and sometimes left over pesticides or other sprays on the skin of the lemon that can not only taste bad but be harmful if eaten.
• European Style Unsalted Butter - Buy the good stuff! Cheap butter contains more water and less butter solids resulting in a wet and sticky dough that can get tough instead of puffing up and becoming the crispy buttery crust you want. Go with unsalted so you can control the salt level in your crust.
• Heavy Whipping Cream - The addition of cream takes the lemon custard filling to another level! Sometimes, it is also referred to as double cream. We will also use some to make the mock crème fraîche.
• Yogurt - This adds a little tanginess to the whipped cream but is easier to make than standard crème fraîche.
• Whole Eggs - We're using whole eggs to set our custard. If you can find some farm fresh eggs then your tart will have a beautiful yellow color. The darker the yolks, the more yellow your tart will be since the lemon juice doesn't really have a color.

Making the Tart Dough

1. First, in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached, mix the room temperature butter, salt, and powdered sugar until it's smooth.
2. Next, add in the room-temperature eggs and lemon zest and mix until smooth. If your mixture looks curdled, don't worry, just keep mixing until it comes together.
3. Add in the flour in thirds until the mixture just begins to come together. Do not over-mix.
4. Form the dough into a flat disk and then wrap the dough in some plastic wrap and refrigerate it for one hour. If you skip this step your tart dough will sink down the sides of the pan during baking.

Preparing the Tart Shells

1. Lightly dust the surface of your workbench and your rolling pin with flour. 
2. Roll the tart dough out to ⅛" thick, moving the dough every 1-2 rolls to make sure it's not stuck to the surface of the workbench.
3. Carefully lift the dough up with your hands or roll it gently onto your rolling pin and place it inside your 9" tart tin (make sure it is the kind with a removable bottom). 
4. Use your fingers to press the dough into the edges of the tart pan. These ridges help keep the tart dough from falling down the sides of the tart tin while baking.
5. Trim off the excess dough with a knife and set it aside to use in another tart or you can freeze the dough to use later.
6. Place your tart shell in the freezer for 30 minutes.

How To Blind Bake Your Tart Shell

Blind baking ensures the tart shell will be crisp and buttery instead of soggy which can happen when baking desserts with very liquidy fillings.

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (176ºC)
2. Crumple up a piece of parchment paper (not wax paper) and place it into the tart shell.
3. Fill the parchment up with pie weights or dry beans. This will hold the shell down and keep it from puffing up during blind baking.
4. Place the tart shell on a sheet pan and bake it for 25 minutes.
5. After 25 minutes, remove the parchment paper will pie weights and continue baking for 10 more minutes. If the top edge of the tart starts to get too brown you can place a pie crust protector on top.
6. Remove the tart shell from the oven and lightly egg wash the inside of the crust. This helps to seal the shell from the moisture of the liquid filling. Continue baking for 5 more minutes or until the interior is an even golden brown.
7. Set the tart aside to cool on a wire rack while you make the filling.

How to Make the Lemon Tart Filling

1. For best results, use fresh lemon juice, not bottled. Zest and juice your lemons, taking care to make sure no lemon seeds are in the juice.
2. Combine the heavy cream, eggs, and sugar in a large measuring cup and blend until smooth using an immersion blender (or you can use a regular blender if needed) until its smooth. 
3. Slowly stream in the lemon juice and lemon zest while blending until smooth. I used an immersion blender for this but you could use a regular blender.
4. Pour the mixture into a heavy-bottomed medium-sized sauce pan and heat over medium heat while whisking constantly to prevent scalding. Heat the mixture to 120ºF (48ºC) then remove it from the heat. Heating the mixture helps dissolve the sugar and helps the custard set faster in the oven.
5. Pour the filling through a fine sieve back into the measuring cup and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes so that any bubbles and foam can rise to the top. Scoop the foam off from the top before pouring the filling into the tart shell.

Assembling the Lemon Tart

1. Reduce the oven heat to 250ºF.
2. Place the lemon tart shell onto a sheet pan and into the middle of the oven on a sheet pan.
3. Carefully pour the lemon curd filling into the tart shell until it reaches the top edge of the tart shell. It's much easier to do this in the oven than try to move the full tart shell into the oven after filling it.
4. Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes or until the center of the tart has a very slight wiggle when you tap the edge of the tart tin but the edges do not move. Make sure you do not over-bake your tart or it will begin to curdle and be very dry instead of having that perfect creamy texture.
5. Remove the lemon tart from the oven and place it into the fridge to chill for 3-4 hours before topping with mock crème fraîche and fresh fruit if desired.

Making the Mock Crème Fraîche

1. Place the whipped cream and powdered sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment attached.
2. Whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form.
3. Add in your yogurt (I used lemon yogurt for extra flavor) and mix until firm but soft peaks form.
4. The cream should hold it's shape but don't over-do the mixing or it will look curdled.
5. Serve the lemon tart with freshly piped cream, fresh berries, and enjoy!

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