"Gale Gand's Perfected Lemon Tart"
from "Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs"
Crust:
10T unsalted butter, slightly softened
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg
1 5/8 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup finely ground walnuts*
*(I subbed ground almonds, and added 1 tsp. almond extract)
Process the nuts in a food processor with 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. In a mixer, cream the butter with the paddle attachment til fluffy; add the rest of the confectioners sugar and mix well. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour and nut/sugar mixture, and mix just til incorporated (I actually did this last stage by hand). Shape dough into a disk, cover with plastic, and chill for 1-2 hours. Roll out for a 10 inch tart pan with a removeable bottom. Chill the dough again in the pan (my step). Preheat oven to 375. Blind bake the crust for 15-20 minutes. Cool, and turn oven temp. down to 325.
Filling:
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 scant cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
1/2 cup heavy cream
grated zest of 1 1/2 lemons
My addition: 2/3 cup good quality apricot jam melted with 2T apricot brandy; if you want it smooth, strain the jam; I left the chunks of apricot in.
When the jam has cooled, brush the bottom of the cooked crust with the jam. Place the crust on a cookie sheet. Whisk the eggs, then whisk in the sugar til blended. Whisk in the lemon juice, cream and zest; pour carefully into the baked crust (if you pour too fast, the jam will all come up and mix with the filling
- guess how i found that out!). bake in center of oven til almost set but still soft in the center, 35-40 minutes. The filling will finish cooking as it cools. Let cool at room temp; remove the sides of the pan, and chill at least 2 hours before cutting.
I made a 'drizzle' for the plate from apricot juice, apricot jam, and apricot brandy, and cut dried apricots into little buds, then brushed them with more jam, for deco on the individual pieces.