Lemon Blueberry Tart

  • Lemon Blueberry Tart

    I need to start taking better pictures of the stuff I’m trying to tempt you with.

    Take this picture, for example.

    You can’t tell that the crust is made with a sweet and flaky, lemony-shortbready cookie.  You can’t tell that the lemon curd is buttery and tart and that the blueberry goo on top is sweet and also just tart enough because that’s what happens when you sprinkle lemon zest into the pot while the blueberries and sugar boil.

    Nope, all you can see is an oddly shiny-looking dessert (sitting under bad lighting), that I was too lazy to cut into wedges to look even a little bit appetizing.  Sometimes I just don’t care and I just want to clear my inbox instead.  Also, if you look at the picture below, you’ll see what happened to the other half of the lemon shortbread base.  Cat #1 happened to it.  Don’t worry- I cut that whole section off before serving it to The Husband and our lovely neighbors.

    Adapted from my Orange Shortbread Tart Cookies, Lemon Curd & Open-Faced Easy Blueberry Pie recipes…

    LEMON SHORTBREAD BASE:

    1 cup all-purpose flour

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

    2 tablespoons granulated sugar

    2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

    1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely grated

    1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

    LEMON CURD:

    3 lemons

    1 1/2 cups sugar

    1/4 pound unsalted butter (room temperature)

    4 extra-large eggs (or 4 1/2 large eggs)

    1/2 cup lemon juice (from 3 – 4 lemons)

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    BLUEBERRY TOPPING:

    1 1/4 cups blueberries

    1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

    2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

    2 tablespoons sugar

    Pinch of salt

    1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder

    1 tablespoon water

    Lemon sugar, optional, to sprinkle over top

    1. LEMON SHORTBREAD BASE:
      1. Sift flour and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.  Cream butter with a stand mixer (or hand-held mixer) until light (2 – 3 minutes), then add sugars, lemon zest, lemon juice and beat for additional 2 – 3 minutes (scraping sides of bowl a couple of times throughout).  Add flour & salt combo and mix on low speed until dough is just incorporated together into a ball.
      2. Pat dough into a tart pan with a removable bottom (almost to top edges of pans, so about 3/4″ thick),  and chill until very firm (at least an hour).  [If you want to make a thinner tart, take the remaining dough and press into a flat disc and wrap with plastic wrap.  Roll dough out to just under 1/2 inch thick (you might need dough to ‘warm up’ a bit to do this), and use a cookie cutter to cut out your desired shapes.  Chill until cookie shapes are firm before baking.]
      3. Preheat oven to 325°, and bake shortbread until firm to the touch and turning golden brown (about 30 minutes for tart pan and 15 minutes for cookies rolled out to 1/2″ thick).  Cool completely on a wire rack and carefully remove from pan, placing on a serving plate.
    2. LEMON CURD:
      1. In the bowl of a food processor, process sugar and zest of 3 lemons until zest is finely minced.
      2. Add the butter to the sugar-lemon mixture, and mix in processor for 45 seconds.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whirling the processor for 20 seconds between each addition, and then add the lemon juice and salt.  Mix until combined.
      3. Pour the mixture into a heavy saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly.   (The lemon curd will thicken at about 170°; it’s ready when it’s the thickness of a loose pudding.)  Remove from heat and refrigerate until cool (press a layer of plastic wrap over the surface to prevent a skin from forming).  Spread cooled curd over lemon shortbread tart base.
    3. BLUEBERRY TOPPING:
      1. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, gently heat blueberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and salt- stirring until juices release and blueberries are warmed (about 3 minutes).
      2. In a small cup, mix cornstarch and water together and add to blueberry mixture.  Cook over medium heat for 1 minute, then remove from heat and allow to cool in fridge.  Spread over top of lemon curd layer, slice, and serve.

    Tips:

    • Make sure the shortbread is light golden brown before removing it from the oven.  Underbaked shortbread is a shame. 
    • Zest note: never zest the white part- just the yellow of the lemon.  Cat Licking DisasterAnd wash the lemon really well before you zest (especially if you don’t buy organic lemons).
    • Be careful not to heat the curd up too quickly or without stirring constantly, as the curd will basically scramble (since it’s mostly eggs).
    • The curd will thicken a bit as it cools, just so you know.
    • Freeze extra curd in a ziploc bag as mentioned above, and scoop out what you need on demand.  This recipe will make more curd that you’ll need, so save the rest (or slather it all over everything you eat for the next two days, like brioche toast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
    • Don’t freeze the dessert after it’s assembled… but by all means, make the three main recipe components ahead of time and freeze for when you’re ready.
    • Sprinkle lemon sugar over top of tart (optional).  I have a container I’ve been trying to get rid of forever and find random ways to use it whenever I can.
    • Enjoy!

     

     

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    June 25th, 2016 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , ,

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