Tarte au Citron

This lemon tart is one of my favourites. The lemon curd is a little bit tart and a generous layer of confectioner's sugar makes it perfect. Of course, you can always add more sugar into the curd to make it sweeter. But my favourite part of this tart is the crust. It's so flaky and buttery! I will definitely use this in other recipes. There's no sugar added into the crust and maybe that makes it so delicious.

  For a flaky pastry crust:

• 1¼ cups (200 grams / 7 oz) of plain all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 125 grams (4¼ oz) of cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 125 ml (4¼ fl oz) of cold milk
• 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar 

For the lemon filling

• The finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• ½ cup (125 ml / 4¼ fl oz) of fresh lemon juice, approximately 3 lemons
• ½ cup (100 grams / 3½ oz) of caster sugar
• 80 grams (2¾ oz) of butter, cut into cubes
• 2 large free range eggs
• 2 large free range egg yolks

  Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F or  4.

  For the pastry:

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl or food processor.

Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour either with your hands or using the food processor, until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Combine the milk and vinegar together.

Add the milk to the flour mixture to make a soft moist dough dotted with butter.

On a lightly floured bench or board bring the mixture just until it forms a ball.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Roll out the pastry until it’s approximately 5 mm (1/8 inch) thick.

Place a 23cm (9 inch) loose bottom tart tin on a baking sheet/ try and line with the pastry, docking the bottom several time with a fork and trimming away the excess pastry.

Line the pastry with parchment paper and blind baking beans and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the tart is lightly golden.

Remove the beans and paper ready for the filling.

For the Lemon curd filling:

In a medium sized non-reactive saucepan, gently heat the lemon juice, grated zest, sugar and butter until it has melted and the sugar dissolved.

In a small bowl whisk together the eggs and the yolks to combine.

Pour a little of the warm lemon mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly, to warm them gently - this way they don’t get to big of a shock and are less likely to scramble.

Pour and scrape out the warmed eggs back into the saucepan with the remaining lemon mixture and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and almost begins to gently bubble around the edges.

Strain the lemon curd filling though a mesh sieve directly into the pre-baked tart shell, removing the zest.

Press through with a rubber spatula to be sure to get all the flavour.

Smooth the curd filling and pop it into the oven for five minutes, you simply want to set the curd.

Remove from the oven and let cool.

Just before serving sprinkle a good layer of icing sugar over the top of the curd filling.

Oh, and this week I baked this cake for my friend's birthday. I'm so happy because everybody enjoyed it!

Coffee Fudge Tart

Coffeeee!! When I first saw the recipe called "coffee fudge tart" - I was sure I'm going to try it. For me, coffee flavoured desserts are even better then the chocolate ones. Every coffee lover will like this.Such a rich coffee flavour and a chewy fudge-like consistency. There's nothing better. Though I was a little bit worried when after 25 minutes the tart was still undercooked, at the end I wasn't disappointed. I was happy! Because the tart was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Try this out and you'll see that.

P.S. I post some of my photos I made last year because today the sun is shining and it feels like spring!

For the pastry
175g salted butter, softened
50g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
250g plain flour

For the filling
125g butter
250g brown sugar
10g instant coffee
90ml Kahlua liqueur
2 eggs, lightly beaten
50g self-raising flour

For the pastry, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and stir until fully incorporated. Add the flour and mix until the pastry forms a ball.

Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and chill for around 20 minutes. Roll out the dough to fit the tart tin and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat the oven to 180C while you prepare the filling.

Heat the butter and sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat, until melted. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add the coffee grounds and Kahlua. Stir in the beaten eggs and then the flour. Mix until everything is well combined, smooth and glossy.

Pour the mixture into the chilled pastry case and bake for 20-25 minutes. (The baking time looks ridiculous - Fow me it took an hour! That's why be careful with it - check the tart with a toothpick.) Remove from the oven and cool. You can serve it with ice-cream.

Pear Tart

Pear Tart

Pastry:

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

                           
Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons dried grated lemon peel

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 medium ripe pears, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon butter

                           
Topping:

1 egg white

1 teaspoon water

1 tablespoon coarse sugar

                           
Glaze:

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

·  Combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Roll out to a 14-in. circle. Transfer pastry to a pan.

combine the sugar, almonds, flour, lemon peel and cinnamon. Add pears; toss to coat. Spoon over the pastry to within 5 cm of edges; dot with butter. Fold edges of pastry over pears.

For topping, beat egg white and water. Brush over pastry; sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at 190° for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown.

For glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla. Pour over warm tart. Sprinkle with almonds. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator.