Luscious Lemon Tart with Hot Butter Pastry

In 2009 I recorded a YouTube video making this wonderful luscious lemon tart with hot butter pastry, and it’s now had over 90,000 views! My chef quality pastry and filling combination is truly delicious, and both are easy to make with your Thermomix. Serve your gorgeous lemon tart elegantly on its own, or add a drizzle, or a softly whipped spoonful, of double cream.

Many thanks for pastry inspiration to pâtissière Sam Gardiner of Glasgow, Scotland. Sam and I agree that this pastry is reliable, easy to work with and perfect for any sweet pastry requirement. I have used it for many years and love it – it’s like a wonderfully crisp shortbread and doesn’t go soggy when filled. The quantity of pastry in this recipe is more than you need, but I always make this much – it’s enough for two round, 28 cm diameter pastry shells, or one pastry shell and twelve shortbread biscuits – I often roll the second half of the leftover pastry dough into a log shape, then slice and freeze it so I’m able to bake instant shortbread biscuits (cookies) when I have visitors!

Many thanks too, for lemon filling inspiration, to Toby Gritten, chef-proprietor of acclaimed gastropub The Pump House in Bristol, England.

When I filmed this recipe for YouTube, the film crew’s eyes just about popped out of their heads as they watched the lemon filling being poured into the baked pastry shell, and there were sounds of pure pleasure when the tart was shared around and tasted! Since then, I am honoured and delighted that many people say this tart is one of their favourite desserts.

This recipe is suitable for Thermomix TM6, TM5 and TM31. It makes 1 large lemon tart to serve 12-16. You’ll also have enough pastry dough left for an extra pastry shell or 12 shortbread biscuits.

ACTIVE TIME 20 MINUTES

TOTAL TIME 3 ¾ HOURS

SERVES 12-16 PEOPLE

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Ingredients

  • Hot butter pastry
  • 100 g unrefined cane sugar
  • 250 g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 350 g plain (all purpose) flour or a gluten free baking flour blend
  • Lemon filling
  • 150 g unrefined cane sugar
  • thinly peeled skin of 3 unwaxed lemons, preferably organic, approx. 30-40 g
  • 150 g freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 4 large or 6-7 small lemons, including the peeled lemons above)
  • 250 g double cream
  • 9-12 medium eggs (500 g weight without shells)

Method

Hot butter pastry

  1. Grind sugar 5 sec/speed 10.
  2. Add butter and melt 3 min/50ºC/speed 3 or longer until completely melted.
  3. Add flour and mix 2 sec/speed 6 until just clinging together, repeat if required. Divide pastry dough in half and immediately press half of warm pastry dough into a 28 cm diameter loose-bottomed round tart tin – this is easiest to do while pastry dough is still warm – see 1st tip for second half of pastry dough.
  4. Chill pastry shell (in tart tin) in fridge for 30 minutes – this will help to reduce shrinkage during baking; meanwhile preheat oven to 150ºC without fan/130ºC with fan/300ºF/gas 2/Aga baking oven.
  5. Bake tart shell 15-25 minutes until pastry is pale gold. Remove from oven, leave pastry shell in tart tin, and cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

Lemon filling

  1. Grind sugar 5 sec/speed 10.
  2. Add lemon peelings and grind 10 sec/speed 10, then scrape down sides of TM bowl and if there are any large bits of peel left, repeat until fine.
  3. Place a bowl on TM lid, set scales to zero, crack eggs into it until TM shows 500 g weight without shells, then set bowl aside. Scrape down lid and sides of TM bowl with spatula, add freshly squeezed lemon juice, double cream and eggs, then cook 7 min/80ºC/speed 3.
  4. Cool a small amount of filling mixture on a teaspoon, carefully taste it, then add a little more lemon juice if required to keep the flavour zingy (some lemons are sweeter than others), cook 45 sec/90ºC/speed 5, pour immediately into cooled pastry shell, spread out evenly, then leave to set in a cool place for at least 3 hours – see 2nd and 3rd tips. Transfer tart from tin to a beautiful serving plate, then slice and serve.

Janie’s Tips

  1. Use second half of pastry dough for another large or several small tart shell/s, or shape pastry dough into a log, cut into 12 shortbread biscuits and bake 10-15 minutes at same oven temperature (step 4), or wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.
  2. Lemon filling is enough to fill one 28 cm diameter round pastry shell. Filling recipe should not be doubled; make filling recipe twice if filling two 28 cm diameter tarts.
  3. While cooling filled tart, cover with a net dome (not cling film or foil) to avoid moisture collecting on, or dripping onto, surface of tart.
  4. This luscious lemon tart will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days. Please note, tart surface may crack in fridge. If it does, spread top of tart with a layer of lemon curd – see lemon curd variation of orange curd recipe in my book I Love Chocolate I Love Thermomix.
  5. Delicious served on its own, or with pouring cream or softly whipped double cream.
  6. For gluten free (GF) use the gluten free baking flour blend instead of plain flour – please read ingredient labels to ensure all your ingredients are gluten free.
  7. This recipe is vegetarian.
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Comments & Questions

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  • ruthwassel

    Can’t wait to try this pastry and tart. Sounds yummy x

    • admin

      Let me know how you get on! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! X

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