Lancaster Lemon tart

I keep flicking through the many cook books I have and thinking how I would love to make every single one of the recpices. However that isn’t completely feasible, so I keep chipping away at them one at a time. This one I stumbled across and thought looked a bit different and interesting.

Golden brown. Exactly how it should be!

It is very similar in a lot of ways to a bakewell tart just with different layers and no icing on top. The recipe tells you to use lard in the pastry. I’ve tried this once before and wasn’t pleased with the results. Instead I used my own sweet shortcrust recipe and it turned out much better.

Forr the pastry;

• 225g Plain Flour
• 30g Icing sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 125g Unsalted butter, diced
• 1 Egg, beaten
• Chilled water (optional)

For the filling;

• Jar of lemon curd
• 100g Unsalted butter, softened
• 100g Caster sugar
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 3 tsp Lemon juice
• 75g Self raising Flour, sifted
• 25g Ground Almonds

To make the pastry;

1. Place the flour, icing sugar and salt into a mixing bowl
2. Rub in the butter until it resembles bread crumbs
3. Add the egg and using a cutting motion with a knife mix into the mixture
4. Add a little water if the pastry is too dry
5. Bring it together with your hands and kneed gently in the bowl until smooth
6. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 mins
7. Then roll out on a floured surface to about 5mm thick to line your tart tin with
8. Prick with a fork and prepare the filling

To make the tart;

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Spread a thick layer of lemon curd over the base of your pastry and place into the fridge to cool
3. Beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until smooth
4. Add the eggs and lemon juice and beat well
5. Sift over the flour and add the ground almonds using a metal spoon or spatula to fold into the mixture
6. Place gently on top of the lemon curd in the tart tin and smooth the top
7. Bake in the oven for 30mins and then reduce to 150°C for 10 mins until golden brown and the sponge springs back slightly when pressed

Mine took a lot less time than this in a fan oven but as long as you keep an eye on it you can’t really go wrong.

Until next time happy baking