Easiest Ever Lemon Tart

If you’re overwhelmed by making pastry, this recipe is for you. The beauty of this pastry is everything is thrown into the food processor, it requires no work on your behalf.  There is no rolling our either, just a bit of squishing!

If you feel so inclined, make your own lemon curd, but this is my go-to recipe when I want something super quick and easy so I use store-bought.  That said, I’ve used the basic recipe here and filled it with jam and preserves and it works a charm. Once you master it, play with different flavours yourself.

The secret is to keep all the ingredients as cold as possible prior to mixing (I always keep my flours in the fridge. It keeps the weevils away and when I need to make pastry it’s well chilled!). This will help with its’ ‘crumbliness’. However, that said, once the pastry has rested a little in the fridge you don’t need to get out the rolling pin! Just squish it into the pan, reserving a little to grate over the top.  It won’t look pretty going in the oven, but when it comes out it will look amazing.

This recipe was shared with me a long time ago by my Aunt Annette, who has always been a real whiz at baking.  I now share it with you…

Easiest Ever Lemon Tart

The easiest lemon tart you could ever make. The pastry is a cinch.

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Servings: 10

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 60 g cold unsalted butter, chopped
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 300 g lemon curd (home-made or store-bought)

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 180c (160c fan forced)
2. Lightly spray a 20cm loose bottom tart tin with cooking oil.
3. Put the self raising flour and butter in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse for 10 seconds to combine.
4. Add the egg and pulse until the dough starts to cling together and form a ball. Remove, wrap in clingwrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Use ⅔ of the dough to line the tin. Just place it in a mound in the centre and use your hands to gently press it out to the sides so it completely covers the base of the tin.
6. Spoon the curd over and spread so the base is covered. Leave a 1cm rim around the edge.
7. Get a cheese grater and grate the remaining pastry over the top. If it’s very soft, just put it in the freezer for a few minutes. Use your hands to evenly distribute the little chunks of pastry over the top of the curd. Little holes with curd showing through are fine. It will look pretty messy, don’t worry, this is how it’s meant to look. Rustic.
8. Place in the oven and cook for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
9. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and allow to cool completely.
10. Serve cold with cream or vanilla ice-cream.

Recipe from my book – Easy Home Cooking  Italian Style, New Holland Publishers, Photo – Jonathan VDK

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