Yield: 8 x 8 Inch Pan
| Ingredients | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base | ||
| Unsalted Butter | 70g | Room Temp |
| Powdered Sugar | 70g | |
| AP Flour | 215g | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp | |
| Eggs | 1 | |
| Lemon Curd | ||
| Lemon Juice | 240g | |
| Lemon Zest | 2 Lemons | Large Lemons |
| Whole Eggs | 240g | ~ 5 eggs |
| Egg Yolks | 120g | |
| Granulated Sugar | 330g | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Gelatin | 5g | 30g Cold Water |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp | |
| Unsalted Butter | 240g | Cold |
Procedure:
- Preheat your oven to 350⁰ Fahrenheit and line an 8 x 8 inch pan with parchment so the sides are completely covered.
- You can do this with your hands, a hand mixer, or a stand mixer. Add your soft butter, powdered sugar, salt, and flour to a bowl. Either pinch the butter between your fingers with the flour until you have little sandy pea sized bits, or mix on low speed until you have a sandy breadcrumb looking mix. Now add your egg and vanilla and mix on low until a dough ball forms. Or mix/knead slightly with your hand until your dough comes together.
- Press your mix in an even layer on the very bottom of your parchment lined pan, you may have slightly extra dough depending on how thick you want the crust. You can also go up the sides and make a square tart if you like, but you’ll need to 2x the recipe.
- For best results, I recommend docking the base all over with a fork or skewer, and chilling this in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking. It may puff slightly more if you don’t chill it, but otherwise will be unchanged. Bake at 350⁰ for 15 to 20 minutes, til golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.
- For the lemon curd, we’re going to mix our gelatin with the cold water and set it aside. Then add every ingredient, other than the gelatin mix, vanilla, and butter, to a medium sized pot and set over medium/low heat.
- If you have a thermometer, cook this to around 170⁰, stirring with a whisk the entire time, it should be visibly thickened. If you don’t, simply watch for the visible changes, they’re quite obvious. It will go from a water like consistency at first, to a thick pudding consistency.
- Once it hits this point, pour it out of the pot and into a separate bowl. We need to do this to stop the cooking, otherwise you will have scrambled eggs in your curd. Now add the gelatin and vanilla and whisk it in.
- Finally, add your butter in stages, I recommend 3 equal parts. Whisk between each butter addition until the butter has completely melted into the curd. Once the butter has all been added, pour your lemon curd over your cooked base. Tap it on the counter to level it, and place in the fridge until completely chilled, I recommend 12 hours.
- For even cleaner slices and an easier time unmolding this and removing the parchment. I recommend freezing this, once it has completely chilled in the fridge. This would take probably an additional 2-4 hours in the freezer.
- You do not have to adhere to my advice, but this is guaranteed certainty for you, so gamble at your own expense.
Special Instructions / notes:
If your base puffs more than you would like and seems like it would make an uneven tart, simply press the crust back down into the bottom of the pan once it comes out of the oven. It will cool and set nearly perfectly flat