A French lemon curd tart also known as 'Tarte Au Citron' is the ultimate lemon dessert. A rich and tangy homemade lemon curd made with fresh lemon juice and egg yolks in a buttery homemade shortcrust pastry. A simple and easy recipe that you can make from scratch or semi-homemade. Great in summer to bring along for a BBQ party or any evening with family and friends.
Do you love lemon? Then this recipe is for you. Unfortunately, in our home, I'm the only lemon fan. So lemon desserts are rare and if I do make them they are all for me. Not so bad right? Who would complain about a good lemon curd tart or lemon mousse? Not me. I can eat lemon curd by the jar if I could afford it.
About this recipe
A surprisingly simple and easy recipe to make and everything can be made ahead of time or semi-homemade.
This tart has basically just two components, the pastry shell, and the lemon curd. The process is as simple as
- Make the shortcrust paste (can be made up to 3 days ahead)
- And make the lemon curd (also can be made up to 3 days ahead)
- Assemble the tart a day before
- Chill the tart for a few hours so it sets well.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
How do I make this semi-homemade
Shortcrust pastry - I always make mine from scratch and yes, I am very passionate about making these from scratch as you can tell from my detailed and passionate post on Pie Crust 101 and Shortcrust Pastry 101. But if you are short on time. Guess what?
The supermarket has tons of 'ready to roll shortcrust pastry' as well as prebaked shortcrust or cookie crust tarts which can be used.
Lemon curd - I highly recommend making the curd at home from scratch. It is the star of the show here. My homemade lemon curd is tangy, rich and delicious made from scratch. It is a very popular recipe on this blog and for good reason.
Lemon curd is very easy to make and I have a detailed post, step by step progress pictures as well as a video to help you succeed. Having said that, lemon curd is easily available in most food stores these days. My word of advice is to buy a good brand that you trust.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Butter - you want to use unsalted butter - the color of your butter will determine the color of your pastry - I'm using a pale white butter. If you can't find unsalted butter go ahead and use salted butter but omit the additional salt in the recipe.
- Egg Yolk - This is important as it gives the pastry that crumbly biscuit-like texture.
- Chilled water - We need to keep the butter in the pastry cold at all times until baking which is one reason we use chilled or ice water.
- Lemons - Use the measure of lemon juice not the number of fruits when making this recipe.
- Caster sugar - Caster sugar is usually a fine grain sugar. Use a fine grain sugar that will dissolve quickly in the eggs.
- Egg yolks - The color of yolks will determine the end color of your lemon curd. So if you use light color yolks, you will have pale yellow lemon curd. A bright golden yellow or orange is much preferred.
Step by step instructions (Save/Pin)
Prepare crust
- Cream butter and sugar for just a minute until well combined.
- Add the vanilla, salt and egg yolk - and combine well.
- Lastly, fold the flour - fold until combined.
- Make a disc and wrap in plastic/cling wrap.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours until firm to roll.
- Dust the work surface with flour.
- Open the dough and roll carefully from the center out turning as you go.
- Use your tart pan as a guide to know how big you need it.
- Transfer the dough to the tart pan.
- Gently press the dough into the tart pan making sure to press down into the shape of the pan.
- Trim the excess dough at the edges with a rolling pin, or your thumb.
- Chill the tart shell for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven at 190 C/ 375F.
- Line the chilled dough with parchment paper or foil.
- Fill the inside of the shell with pie weights.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are lightly starting to brown.
- Remove the baking/parchment paper and pie weight.
- Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes more until lightly golden.
- Cool on a wire rack.
10 Tips when handling Pastry
Prepare Lemon curd
- Cut the butter into cubes - keep chilled.
- In the bowl over a double boiler - add yolks, egg, salt, cornstarch, and sugar.
- Whisk until light, and fluffy - sugar should almost melt.
- Pour the lemon juice and zest slowly in.
- Continue to stir on low.
The mixture should cook gently with the steam from the water in the saucepan below - double boiler - Continue to stir until it coats the back of your wooden spoon.
- Remove from heat.
- Gradually add cubes of butter one at a time. Make sure each piece is well incorporated.
- The mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Once all the butter is incorporated, strain it through a mesh or a strainer to remove the zest. This will also give you a smooth, creamy curd.
- Let cool slightly.
Tips and troubleshooting for the perfect lemon curd
Assemble
- Pour the lemon curd into the baked tart shell
- Let chill in the fridge for a few hours.
- Dust with powdered sugar
- Garnish with lemon slices.
Troubleshooting
My lemon curd tart does not cut into slices?
The lemon curd needs to be cooked until it's thick and coats the back of the spoon. If you see in this recipe I have an extra tablespoon of cornstarch to help thicken the lemon curd so it sets firm not soft.
Additionally, you need to chill the tart for a good few hours so the filling has time to set well.
I have too much extra lemon curd?
This lemon curd in this recipe is just enough for a 9-inch tart pan. However, if the shortcrust pastry shrinks when baking you may have extra lemon curd. Read my tips on how to make the perfect shortcrust pastry ever single time.
Frequently asked questions
A lemon curd contains egg yolks which makes them perishable and so this lemon curd tart will last in the fridge for 3 to 4 days only. Though I doubt it will say long because it is so delicious.
I highly recommend you free the lemon curd on its own and the pastry tart on its own but assemble the tart no more than two days before you need to serve.
You can freeze lemon curd on its own for a few months and you can also freeze the pastry tart for a few months.
Yes, you can.
Omit sugar in the pastry tart.
Replace the sugar with either one of these - ¼ cup honey, or ⅓ cup agave syrup or 1 tbsp Stevia or similar
The acid in lemon juice reacts with the metal used to make lemon curd which is why I suggested using a stainless steel or glass bowl when making homemade lemon curd. Aluminum or copper will react and give a metallic taste.
Similar to custard, lemon curd is done when you can run a finger across the back of your spoon and it holds a trail in the curd.
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Description
Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry (Pate Sucree)
- 1 ½ cup (190 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ cup (113 g) Unsalted butter (1 stick) room temerature
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ cup (50 g) Sugar
- 1 Egg yolk large
- 4 tbsp Chilled water as needed
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Shortcrust pastry
- Cream butter and sugar for just a minute until well combined.
- Add the vanilla, salt and egg yolk – and combine well.
- Lastly, fold the flour – fold until combined.
- Make a disc and wrap in plastic/cling wrap.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours until firm to roll.
- Dust the work surface with flour.
- Open the dough and roll carefully from the center out turning as you go.
- Use your tart pan as a guide to know how big you need it.
- Transfer the dough to the tart pan.
- Gently press the dough into the tart pan making sure to press down into the shape of the pan.
- Trim the excess dough at the edges with a rolling pin, or your thumb.
- Chill the tart shell for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven at 190 C/ 375F.
- Line the chilled dough with parchment paper or foil.
- Fill the inside of the shell with pie weights.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are lightly starting to brown.
- Remove the baking/parchment paper and pie weight.
- Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes more until lightly golden.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Lemon curd
- Cut the butter into cubes – keep chilled.
- In the bowl over a double boiler – add yolks, egg, salt, cornstarch, and sugar.
- Whisk until light, and fluffy – sugar should almost melt.
- Pour the lemon juice and zest slowly in.
- Continue to stir on low.
- The mixture should cook gently with the steam from the water in the saucepan below – double boiler
- Continue to stir until it coats the back of your wooden spoon.
- Remove from heat.
- Gradually add cubes of butter one at a time. Make sure each piece is well incorporated.
- The mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Once all the butter is incorporated, strain it through a mesh or a strainer to remove the zest. This will also give you a smooth, creamy curd.
- Let cool slightly.
Assemble
- Pour the lemon curd into the baked tart shell
- Let chill in the fridge for a few hours.
- Dust with powdered sugar
- Garnish with lemon slices.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
