Lemon Tart... almost
For my friend Rebecca's Birthday I decided to make her a Tart. She dislikes cake (which I just can't understand) and has a fondness for tarts that might beat the french. I have never attempted a tart before and was pretty anxious about it - especially since I was baking for the connoisseur of tarts. I put my faith in Dorie Greenspan and her cookbook to help me through it.
There were a lot of recipes to choose from, but I thought starting with Lemon made sense (don't ask why). The crust is a basic tart dough - which I can handle - and the filling is a finicky temperature driven, whisking nightmare.... well, maybe not a nightmare but easy enough to mess up. I also don't have a blender and had to use my food processor for the butter emulsifying step. If only the plumber had not come to fix the slow drain, the tart filling might have turned out.... To sum up a long story, the plumber plugged in his tools in our ancient outlets and blew a fuse (which zapped my food processor and shocked my finger). Unfortunately, I could not complete the last step with the butter. And my food processor is dead. Thankfully our landlord will replace it.
In order not to waste an interesting lemon creme I decided to try and make it into something a little sweeter and lighter. I whipped up some cream and added just a little bit of powdered sugar and vanilla. Raspberries are also a good addition to most lemon dessert so I added some of those too. I made a graham cracker crust and broke it into pieces for the base, added lemon creme, and topped with whipped cream and berries. Result: a very tart and sweet dessert... the kind that makes you shake your head a few times because of the sweetness. Maybe not a successful stand alone dish, but something that you might spread thinly on a slab of pound cake, toast, or really any other similar use for lemon curd. I make a coconut cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese coconut frosting that this would be delicious with.
For now, Rebecca's dessert will have to wait (she was gracious and understanding with the food processor error). Luckily I have a tart dough waiting in the freezer for the right moment. Maybe after our vacation!
For my friend Rebecca's Birthday I decided to make her a Tart. She dislikes cake (which I just can't understand) and has a fondness for tarts that might beat the french. I have never attempted a tart before and was pretty anxious about it - especially since I was baking for the connoisseur of tarts. I put my faith in Dorie Greenspan and her cookbook to help me through it.
There were a lot of recipes to choose from, but I thought starting with Lemon made sense (don't ask why). The crust is a basic tart dough - which I can handle - and the filling is a finicky temperature driven, whisking nightmare.... well, maybe not a nightmare but easy enough to mess up. I also don't have a blender and had to use my food processor for the butter emulsifying step. If only the plumber had not come to fix the slow drain, the tart filling might have turned out.... To sum up a long story, the plumber plugged in his tools in our ancient outlets and blew a fuse (which zapped my food processor and shocked my finger). Unfortunately, I could not complete the last step with the butter. And my food processor is dead. Thankfully our landlord will replace it.
In order not to waste an interesting lemon creme I decided to try and make it into something a little sweeter and lighter. I whipped up some cream and added just a little bit of powdered sugar and vanilla. Raspberries are also a good addition to most lemon dessert so I added some of those too. I made a graham cracker crust and broke it into pieces for the base, added lemon creme, and topped with whipped cream and berries. Result: a very tart and sweet dessert... the kind that makes you shake your head a few times because of the sweetness. Maybe not a successful stand alone dish, but something that you might spread thinly on a slab of pound cake, toast, or really any other similar use for lemon curd. I make a coconut cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese coconut frosting that this would be delicious with.
For now, Rebecca's dessert will have to wait (she was gracious and understanding with the food processor error). Luckily I have a tart dough waiting in the freezer for the right moment. Maybe after our vacation!
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