lemon tart

My mom just celebrated a very big birthday and my sister, father, and I threw her a dinner party at my house. For dessert I decided to make a lemon tart. Since I knew we had a lot of cooking to do for the dinner I wanted to make something easy but delicious, and I had to be able to make it a day in advance. Mom loves fruit tarts but baking a bunch of tart shells can be pretty labor intensive so I decided to make a ginger snap crust.

I found Anna's Ginger Thins at the local deli and ground them in the food processor until they were almost a powder. I mixed in enough melted butter that the mixture looked moist but not soggy. (I was making 3 tarts but 1 5.25 ounce box plus about half of a second box (15 more ginger thins) and 7 tablespoons of butter makes crust for one 8 or 9 inch tart.) Pour the crumb mixture into a tart pan with a removable bottom and spread it fairly evenly in the center with more crumbs around the rim. Use a rubber spatula to press the bottom into a nice flat base, working from the center towards the edges. Once you are ready to do the edge, use your fingers to press the crumbs into the corners and up the sides of the pan. Do not worry if it extends up a little past the rim - this gives the crust a pretty rustic appearance (first photo below). Once it is all pressed into place put the pan in the refrigerator to chill while making the filling. 

For the filling I used my favorite lemon curd recipe from the Book of Tarts by Maury Rubin. I love his technique for making lemon curd - rather than the traditional french method of whisking the butter in one piece at a time at the end, you whisk all the ingredients together in a saucepan and cook it, whisking constantly, until it just barely comes to a boil. Then you strain it immediately after cooking (see photos below). Since lemon curd is a little soft for a tart filling that needs to be sliced I added an extra egg yolk to the recipe to thicken it a little more. 

Pour the lemon curd into the chilled tart shell and refrigerate it overnight. 

We served our lemon tarts with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries that were tossed with a little lemon juice and sugar. I also made this almond macaroon torte from smitten kitchen which was very popular too.