I, too, went down the baked lemon tart rabbit hole a few years ago. Happy days!
Interestingly, Heston made a <a href=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/01/foodanddrink.shopping1>much sharper version</a> in the early days of The Fat Duck, using less sugar, egg, and cream, and twice as much juice as his later one. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what I thought of it at the time. In the end I seem to have settled on the version by Roger Pizey (ex Marco/Gavroche) which also has more lemon and less sugar than the Roux. (If you’re curious he goes with: 25% lemon juice, 18% double cream, 25% sugar, 32% egg.)
But I really must revisit that original Heston version at some point to see why I stepped over it. A couple of things that I did carry forward are to use whipping cream rather than double, and to warm the mix in a bain marie. Pouring a warm mix into a warm shell mitigates the problem of the filling separating into two layers when making a deep tart (3.5 cm).
I’ve only just found your feed so I’m looking forward to browsing the archive. Thanks.
Hi Pete and Nicola, I made the Heston recipe attached above and as you suspected the set is very gentle - almost ethereal. It melts on the palate. The lemon flavour/acidity is of course fantastic, however this is certainly comes at a cost. It lacks a certain richness and so doesn't fill the mouth with flavour as you might hope. For me, it is possible bordering on too light. The sharpness is so just so good, though - perhaps the quest for perfect lemon tart is futile: richness always to the detriment of lemony tang...?
Pete! Nice to meet you and thank you for writing such a brilliantly informative comment. And also reminding me of the par cooking for a deep tart technique re separation. I’m going to add that as a note in the recipe now, in case anyone decides to scale up!
Do you know the effect of the whipping cream? I’m trying to think how that would make a significant difference. Grace, in the comments above, only has access to whipping cream in Germany so let’s see how her tarts turn out!
Thinking about it now, the whipping cream can’t make any difference. After all, in the UK it’s just 10% less fat than double cream (39% vs 49%), so per slice it’s only going to be a matter of a couple of grams. I would defy anyone to notice that.
I think this tart is at its absolute best when the filling is impossibly light and delicate yet mind-blowingly lemony. Anything that aids this can only be a good thing, I guess. That’s why I’m curious again about the Fat Duck version. I think I didn’t stick with it because I was obsessed at the time with making Marco’s somewhat iconic tart. Unfortunately, I’ve never done a side-by-side to settle it in my own mind, and I’m not currently in a position to do any baking. So I’ll have to rely on others to do the work – hint. ;)
I clicked on this email SO fast the second it popped up in my inbox. I'm a hugeeee fan of anything with lemon (outside of chocolate of course!), and lemon tarts have been my favorite pastry to make. My mom and I usually end up fighting over who gets the last bit of any lemon dessert (cakes, bars, tarts, etc), so I know she'll absolutely love this recipe too once I give it a go! Perfect for Mother's Day coming up 💛
Shruti, lemons are absolute joy aren't they? Can you please tell me how you make lemon bars? I used to do it by baking curd on top of a biscuitty base but I'm wondering if that's the best way? Or is it more of a custard style mix? I'm fascinated by all the diff takes and options. Btw my mum is the same - she adores lemon things! She definitely enjoyed being my taste tester this week haha. Mum approved lemon tart <--- I should make a special badge/stamp for this for my citrus recipes.
That's actually exactly how I do it too! My go-to recipe is this random one I got from Williams-Sonoma at one of their in-store events years ago, and it's never failed me. And yesss! A mom-approved badge is honestly the highest reward you could give a recipe haha
Hi Nicola! Can't wait to make these! I am living in Germany and we do not have any cream that has a higher fat content that 30-35% (horrible I know!). Will this effect the overall result for the curd? Thanks
hey Grace, thanks so much for your question. Firstly I am sorry that you don't have fatty fatty cream over in Germany - I forget how lucky we are in the UK. That being said, you can probably make gorgeous looking quenelles and whipped cream that doesn't threaten to overwhip as soon as you look at it (this happens with the double cream here). With this formulation, I can't see it being a problem. We are mainly using the eggs to set the custard and the cream is just for mouthfeel, so whilst it might have a 'lighter' feel on the palate, it won't cause any structural issues I don't think. Please let me know if you make them!
Hi Nicola, thanks so much fir the feedback! I am going to make them but sub the lemon for rhubarb juice and top with meringue! Question; should I heat the cream to temper the eggs for this? Ir just add the cream cold?
Hey Grace sorry to jump in here, I also live in Germany. I use dr oetker Creme double extra sahnig. It is 42g fat. Can find it where the Creme fraiche, Quark etc is and not where the Sahne is. Hope that helps!
Oh yes! You can totally do that. The problem with caster sugar is that it doesnt absorb so readily into the other ingredients and you end up overworking etc so yes icing sugar!
Finally made this and it’s fantastic! For those (like me) wondering about quantities and tart pan/tin sizes — pistachio pastry makes two 7in/18cm tarts (240g pastry each) and custard is enough for one 7in/18cm tart.
Nicola, at what temp should we bake the tarts, 110c fan or 160c fan? I couldn't tell if the 110 was just for warming up the cases, or baking with custard as well? Thanks!
Hi Nia. Your comment was long ago, but...I’ve made this with passionfruit, so I don’t see why lime wouldn’t work. I’d just leave the lemon zest out of the pastry.
Just made this (with almonds instead of pistachios), using homemade creme fraiche prepared with 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 tbsp of greek yogurt allowed to rest at room temp for 24 hours. It was super delicious and is the first shortcrust I have EVER prepared that didn't need to be lined or docked and didn't shrink. I love tarts but have never had a tart shell not shrink on me. I'm going to be using this pastry for everything now!
Hi! I used larger tins (110gr dough) and warmed up the custard. BUT, no wooble, 20 mins is definetly too much for this size with warm Pastry and custard...and in the surface there is a slighly thin kind of foam? I dont know why...
I, too, went down the baked lemon tart rabbit hole a few years ago. Happy days!
Interestingly, Heston made a <a href=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/01/foodanddrink.shopping1>much sharper version</a> in the early days of The Fat Duck, using less sugar, egg, and cream, and twice as much juice as his later one. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what I thought of it at the time. In the end I seem to have settled on the version by Roger Pizey (ex Marco/Gavroche) which also has more lemon and less sugar than the Roux. (If you’re curious he goes with: 25% lemon juice, 18% double cream, 25% sugar, 32% egg.)
But I really must revisit that original Heston version at some point to see why I stepped over it. A couple of things that I did carry forward are to use whipping cream rather than double, and to warm the mix in a bain marie. Pouring a warm mix into a warm shell mitigates the problem of the filling separating into two layers when making a deep tart (3.5 cm).
I’ve only just found your feed so I’m looking forward to browsing the archive. Thanks.
Oops. That link didn’t format too well. Let’s try again...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/01/foodanddrink.shopping1
Oh yes! Look at that. 500ml lemon juice vs “5 lemons squeezed” in the later recipe. The set must be so gentle on that? Wow
Hi Pete and Nicola, I made the Heston recipe attached above and as you suspected the set is very gentle - almost ethereal. It melts on the palate. The lemon flavour/acidity is of course fantastic, however this is certainly comes at a cost. It lacks a certain richness and so doesn't fill the mouth with flavour as you might hope. For me, it is possible bordering on too light. The sharpness is so just so good, though - perhaps the quest for perfect lemon tart is futile: richness always to the detriment of lemony tang...?
Interesting stuff. Thanks. 👍
Pete! Nice to meet you and thank you for writing such a brilliantly informative comment. And also reminding me of the par cooking for a deep tart technique re separation. I’m going to add that as a note in the recipe now, in case anyone decides to scale up!
Do you know the effect of the whipping cream? I’m trying to think how that would make a significant difference. Grace, in the comments above, only has access to whipping cream in Germany so let’s see how her tarts turn out!
Thinking about it now, the whipping cream can’t make any difference. After all, in the UK it’s just 10% less fat than double cream (39% vs 49%), so per slice it’s only going to be a matter of a couple of grams. I would defy anyone to notice that.
I think this tart is at its absolute best when the filling is impossibly light and delicate yet mind-blowingly lemony. Anything that aids this can only be a good thing, I guess. That’s why I’m curious again about the Fat Duck version. I think I didn’t stick with it because I was obsessed at the time with making Marco’s somewhat iconic tart. Unfortunately, I’ve never done a side-by-side to settle it in my own mind, and I’m not currently in a position to do any baking. So I’ll have to rely on others to do the work – hint. ;)
Can’t wait to make these! For the pastry after combining the nuts with the sugar, do you just add everything else in?
It's now updated! It went out in the email version but for some reason got dropped on the web version. Technique + GIF now there x
Amazing thank you! Can I also check how many tarts does this recipe make? X
OMG i've just seen that the recipe is incomplete! I have no idea what happened there. Updating it now.
Those quenelles are so dreamy!
Honestly creme fraiche is the BEST to quenelle. Fat and thick but still got some moisture energy!!!
Did you ever see the South Park episode with the jingle about creme fraiche? It's all I can hear this morning.
I clicked on this email SO fast the second it popped up in my inbox. I'm a hugeeee fan of anything with lemon (outside of chocolate of course!), and lemon tarts have been my favorite pastry to make. My mom and I usually end up fighting over who gets the last bit of any lemon dessert (cakes, bars, tarts, etc), so I know she'll absolutely love this recipe too once I give it a go! Perfect for Mother's Day coming up 💛
Shruti, lemons are absolute joy aren't they? Can you please tell me how you make lemon bars? I used to do it by baking curd on top of a biscuitty base but I'm wondering if that's the best way? Or is it more of a custard style mix? I'm fascinated by all the diff takes and options. Btw my mum is the same - she adores lemon things! She definitely enjoyed being my taste tester this week haha. Mum approved lemon tart <--- I should make a special badge/stamp for this for my citrus recipes.
That's actually exactly how I do it too! My go-to recipe is this random one I got from Williams-Sonoma at one of their in-store events years ago, and it's never failed me. And yesss! A mom-approved badge is honestly the highest reward you could give a recipe haha
I do miss a Williams Sonoma living in the UK but I will definitely be making those lemon bars!
Hi Nicola! Can't wait to make these! I am living in Germany and we do not have any cream that has a higher fat content that 30-35% (horrible I know!). Will this effect the overall result for the curd? Thanks
hey Grace, thanks so much for your question. Firstly I am sorry that you don't have fatty fatty cream over in Germany - I forget how lucky we are in the UK. That being said, you can probably make gorgeous looking quenelles and whipped cream that doesn't threaten to overwhip as soon as you look at it (this happens with the double cream here). With this formulation, I can't see it being a problem. We are mainly using the eggs to set the custard and the cream is just for mouthfeel, so whilst it might have a 'lighter' feel on the palate, it won't cause any structural issues I don't think. Please let me know if you make them!
Hi Nicola, thanks so much fir the feedback! I am going to make them but sub the lemon for rhubarb juice and top with meringue! Question; should I heat the cream to temper the eggs for this? Ir just add the cream cold?
Hey Grace sorry to jump in here, I also live in Germany. I use dr oetker Creme double extra sahnig. It is 42g fat. Can find it where the Creme fraiche, Quark etc is and not where the Sahne is. Hope that helps!
Cant wait to make these, Nicola!
Would you use icing sugar instead of caster sugar if you had ground pistachio to begin with?
If we sign up to KP+ now do we get access to the previous weeks' recipes?
Thanks!
ANd yes! You get access to ALLL the back catalogue ofc! x
Oh yes! You can totally do that. The problem with caster sugar is that it doesnt absorb so readily into the other ingredients and you end up overworking etc so yes icing sugar!
These look gorgeous! Definitely making, I love lemon desserts.
Oh brilliant Jolene, hope you enjoy these :) I love lemon desserts too!
I'll let you know how I go! 🍋 💛
Interested in trying them!
Classic lemon tarts with a custard filling contain like 15 eggs and even though they're delicious, they leave an eggy taste in your mouth
Oooh I'd love to know what you think of this! Eggy, even when cold!? Very interesting.
Yes yes I'll let you know!
I just made them and they are definitely not eggy :)
<3 <3 <3 PHEW!
Finally made this and it’s fantastic! For those (like me) wondering about quantities and tart pan/tin sizes — pistachio pastry makes two 7in/18cm tarts (240g pastry each) and custard is enough for one 7in/18cm tart.
Hello! Making this right now and wondering what to do with the lemon zest that is called for in the pastry recipe? Thanks!
Nicola, at what temp should we bake the tarts, 110c fan or 160c fan? I couldn't tell if the 110 was just for warming up the cases, or baking with custard as well? Thanks!
Would this work for a key lime tart? If I were to substitute the lemon with lime?
Hi Nia. Your comment was long ago, but...I’ve made this with passionfruit, so I don’t see why lime wouldn’t work. I’d just leave the lemon zest out of the pastry.
Just made this (with almonds instead of pistachios), using homemade creme fraiche prepared with 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 tbsp of greek yogurt allowed to rest at room temp for 24 hours. It was super delicious and is the first shortcrust I have EVER prepared that didn't need to be lined or docked and didn't shrink. I love tarts but have never had a tart shell not shrink on me. I'm going to be using this pastry for everything now!
Thank you for this ! And for the whole newsletter, it's always a pleasure to read you!
Quick question on this : would it work with grapefruit ? I want to give it a try, do you know if similar quantities would work as well ?
Very late to the lemon tart party but made this today and it was exceptional! Such a silky smooth lemon custard 😍😍😍
Hi! I used larger tins (110gr dough) and warmed up the custard. BUT, no wooble, 20 mins is definetly too much for this size with warm Pastry and custard...and in the surface there is a slighly thin kind of foam? I dont know why...