Lemon Curd Tart with Shortbread Crust

This crust is amazing.

You’ll see that this is the second lemon tart recipe featured on this website. This one features an amazing shortbread crust, rather than the traditional french tart crust. This recipe is adapted from the Ina Garten Lemon Curd Tart recipe on the FoodNetwork website.

Lemon Curd Tart with Shortbread Crust

Ingredients

Tart shell

12 Tbl unsalted butter at room temperature
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
210 grams all-purpose flour
Pinch salt

Lemon curd

4 lemons, at room temperature
300g (1.5 cups) sugar
1/4 lb unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

Tart shell

1. Mix butter and sugar in the bowl of electric mixer with a paddle attachment until combined.
2. Add vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour and salt.
4. Add flour/salt to butter/sugar mixture.
5. Mix on low speed until dough starts to come together.
6. Dump onto flour-dusted surface. and shape into a flat disk.
7. Press the dough into a 9-10” false-bottom tart pan. (The crust around the edges should be of equal height and thickness to accommodate the filling.)
8. Chill until firm.
9. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
10. Cut a square of aluminum foil big enough to cover the entire crust, but no larger.
11. Butter one side of the square and place it on the pastry buttered side down.
12. Fill tart with dried beans or rice.
13. Bake tart shell for 20 minutes.
14. Remove the foil and beans/rice.
15. Prick the tart all over with the tines of a fork.
16. Bake again for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.
17. Allow to cool to room temperature and begin now making the lemon curd.

For the lemon curd:

1. Zest the lemons, being careful to avoid the pith.
2. Squeeze the lemons to make 1/2 cup of juice. Set juice aside.
3. Put the zest and sugar in a food processor and process 2-3 minutes. (Zest will be very fine.)
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and lemon zest.
5. One at a time, add the eggs.
6. Add the lemon juice and salt.
7. Mix until combined.
8. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan.
9. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. (Lemon curd will thicken around 175° F.)
10. Remove from heat and stir thoroughly.
11. Fill tart shell with warm lemon curd.
12. Allow to set at room temperature.

Serves 12
Approx 393 calories per slice