Lemon Curd Tart

On Saturday night we had some family friends over for dinner I made a Lemon Curd Tart and served it with some yummy vanilla bean ice cream, you could also serve it with cream, berries or a combination. I love a good lemon curd. Ever since I went to a small country town to visit family and the women of the church baked an afternoon tea, I have wanted to try lemon curd again. Nobody knows how to cook better than country women, the vanilla sponge with homemade jam and fresh cream and strawberries was amazing, however my little cousin and I loved the mini lemon curd tarts. 

I had not thinking moment when I put the pasty in the oven. I don't have pie weights so I used rice to hold the crust in shape, but I did not think to put baking paper inbetween the rice and the pastry. This meant that the pastry had hardened rice in the base of it so I had to use a spoon and scrape and scoop it out of the pastry. Luckily I had my boyfriend with me so we got a good laugh out of it and worked on it together. It left a very pretty pattern on the base of it shame I had to cover it up with the lemon curd. I was also very lucky that we got all of the rice out I wasn't 100% sure but if someone had a piece of rice in theirs they didn't say anything. 

You can add lime to make it a lemon lime curd tart or make it just a lime curd tart. Adjust it to what you have in your house and to your preferences. 

This recipe lets you make a pastry base from scratch, if you want to use a biscuit base that would work fine too. 

Ingredients

Curd 

• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 4 lemons (zest and juice) 
• 4 large egg yolks beaten 
• 225g butter 
• 3/4 cup caster sugar 

Pastry 

• 100g butter cubed 
• 1 1/3 cups plain flour 
• 1/4 cup caster sugar 
• 1 egg beaten 

Method  

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 
2. Grease a loose bottomed tart tin.
3. To make the pastry, use your fingers to rub the butter, flour and sugar together then add the egg yolks with a teaspoon of cold water to bind. (If you need more water add sparingly)
4. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Roll dough out onto a floured surface and line the tart tin press into place and trim the edged. 
6. Prick the pastry with a fork and line with baking paper and fill with pie weights or rice. 
7. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove the baking paper filled with pie weights/rice and cook for 5-8 minutes to crisp.
8. Dissolve the cornflour in the lemon juice and put in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients.
9. Stir constantly over a medium heat to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. after about 6 or 7 minutes the mixture should begin to thicken,
10. Continue until it starts to bubble amd has thickened (it should easily coat the back of your wooden spoon) spoon it into the pastry case and level with the palette knife or the back of the wooden spoon. 
11. Leave to cool completely. I put mine in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours. 

Tip:

When rolling the pastry out if you lay baking paper or cling wrap on the bench and the flour it. It makes the transfer and clean up a lot easier. 

Also cover the top of the pastry or the rolling pin with cling wrap to prevent extra clean up. 

Enjoy!