Belinda Jeffery’s lemon curd and shortbread tart
This lovely lemon curd and shortbread tart is a particular favourite of mine. The shortbread ‘‘pastry’’ is grated, so there’s no rolling involved. And the lemon curd recipe isn’t too sweet, which allows the tang of lemon to really come through. I hope you enjoy it!
Serves 8-12
Ingredients
■ Icing sugar, for dusting
■ Softly whipped cream or double cream, to serve, optional
Shortbread pastry
■ 2 cups (300g) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
■ 1 teaspoon baking powder
■ 1⁄ teaspoon salt 8
■ 250g unsalted butter, at cool room temperature, roughly chopped
■ 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
■ 2 egg yolks (from 60g eggs)
■ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Lemon curd
■ 3 × 60g eggs
■ 90g caster sugar
■ 1⁄ cup (125ml) fresh lemon juice, strained 2 ■ 90g unsalted butter, melted
■ Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
Method
1. For the shortbread pastry, put the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and whiz them together so they’re thoroughly mixed. Tip them into a bowl and set it aside.
2. Put the butter in the food processor along with the caster sugar and whiz for about 40 seconds or until the mixture is pale and creamy (you may need to stop the machine and scrape down the sides once or twice). Add the egg yolks and vanilla, then process again for 15 seconds or until well combined.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and pulse the machine in short bursts until a ball of pastry forms around the blade (try not to overdo this mixing).
4. Turn the pastry out onto a very lightly floured board and shape it into two equalsized logs (if the pastry seems too soft, chill it until it firms up enough to handle). Wrap each log in baking paper, then pop them in the fridge and chill for at least 3 hours (or overnight) until they’re really firm.
5. While the pastry is chilling, make the lemon curd. You can make the curd a week or so ahead, if you like. Put the eggs and caster sugar into a medium-sized, heavy-based saucepan and whisk with a balloon whisk until they’re thoroughly combined but not too frothy. Whisking gently, mix in the lemon juice and the melted butter.
6. Sit the pan over medium-low heat. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly with a flat-based wooden spoon or sauce whisk, until it thickens to a lovely, custard-like consistency. As you stir, try to use a figure-eight motion to cover the entire base of the pan. Do not let it boil, otherwise it may curdle.
7. Remove from the heat and strain it through a fine sieve into a heatproof jug. Stir in the lemon zest, then cover the jug loosely with a sheet of baking paper and cool. Once cool, cover securely and pop it into the fridge. It will keep well for up to 10 days.
8. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Very lightly butter a 25cm loose-based tart tin. Remove one pastry log from the fridge. Use the side of a box grater with the largest holes to grate the pastry onto a plate in batches. Transfer each batch to the prepared tin. When finished, gently pat the dough strands out evenly over the base of the tin, trying not to squash them down too much.
9. Dollop the lemon curd evenly over the grated pastry. Smooth it out thinly with a palette knife, leaving a 1cm border around the edges. Grate the remaining pastry log the same way as before and sprinkle it over the lemon curd. Give it the lightest pat down to even it out.
10. Carefully transfer the tin to the oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until it’s golden brown. Remove and cool completely in the tin on a rack. To serve, carefully remove the tart from the tin and place on a serving plate.
11. Dust the tart with icing sugar and serve with softly whipped cream.