By Melissa Clark
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
- Total Time
- 2 hours, plus at least 2 hours’ cooling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 50 minutes
- Rating
- 4(300)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This classic lemon tart has a buttery, shortbread crust and a soft, dense lemon curd filling that barely holds its shape when you cut a slice. The textures should be a combination of crunchy and velvety; the flavor, sharp and tangy, with just enough sugar to take the edge off the citrus. This version has all of that, with one tweak for ease. Instead of making a traditional dough that needs to be shaped with a rolling pin, this one has a simple press-in-the-pan cookie crust made with melted butter. For a nutty-scented brown butter crust, let the butter cook until it turns golden. This tart is at its best when served on the day it’s baked, but it’s still delightful a day or two later (though the crust will lose some of its crispness). Store it in the refrigerator and serve it cold or at room temperature.
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 8tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter
- 1¼cups/173 grams all-purpose flour
- ½cup/73 grams confectioners’ sugar
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- 12tablespoons/170 grams unsalted butter
- 2teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1cup/237 milliliters freshly squeezed lemon juice (5 to 7 lemons)
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar, more to taste
- 3large eggs
- 3egg yolks
- Large pinch fine sea or table salt
For the Crust
For the Curd
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
516 calories; 32 grams fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 35 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 203 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Make the crust: In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. (If you like, you can let the butter cook until it browns and smells nutty, 2 to 4 minutes longer.)
Step
2
Whisk together flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Drizzle in melted butter and, using a spatula, mix until well combined. Press this into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan, using a measuring cup if you like to flatten the tart shell and make sure it’s even. Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 months (wrap in plastic if storing for more than 4 hours).
Step
3
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line tart dough with a piece of foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights, dry beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and weights and continue to bake until the crust is very lightly golden at the edges and baked through on the bottom, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack to cool. (Tart shell can be made up to 1 day ahead and kept at room temperature.)
Step
4
Make the curd: Put butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter is melted and mixture is hot, 4 to 5 minutes.
Step
5
In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, yolks and salt. Whisk the hot mixture gradually into the eggs to temper them. Then pour everything back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (170 degrees; do not overcook, or it will curdle), about 5 minutes. Pour through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl. Taste and add a bit more sugar if you like. It should taste tart but balanced.
Step
6
Spread the curd (it’s OK if it’s still warm) into the tart shell, spreading it evenly with a small offset spatula or butter knife. Return to the oven to bake until the curd is just set along the edges but still jiggly in the center, about 7 to 15 minutes. (It will continue to firm up as it cools.) Transfer back to the wire rack to cool completely, at least 2 hours, before serving. If the curd still looks a little loose after cooling, you can chill the tart for an hour or two before serving. Note that it’s a soft curd but shouldn’t be runny.
Ratings
4
out of 5
300
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Cooking Notes
Carolyn S.
The recipe sounds wonderfully simple. However, ever since my husband and I lived in Eugene, Oregon several decades ago we have had fond memories of a tart lemon tart that included a layer of dark chocolate under the lemon curd. Could that be incorporated into this recipe?
Julie
I think that combo would be great. I love the flavors of lemon and chocolate together. I would paint on a thin-ish layer of chocolate on the crust after it has completely cooled . I would allow the chocolate to set up before you add the lemon curd. And I would cool the curd somewhat to ensure you don't remelt the coholate and make a smear.
Sue Fisher
I use a large coffee filter when blind baking and it never sticks.
Love the Metric ingredient list
As European I love that the recipe has notes in metric. Honestly I have no idea what a cup even is ; )
Lurlene
Miyoko's brand cultured vegan butter apparently is able to be browned. There are youtube demos with top chefs using the butter and browning it.
Suzanne F
The recipe is written for a metal tart pan (as shown in the article), which conducts heat differently from glass. If using a glass pie plate, you need to make need an adjustment to the oven heat, because you get both conduction from the air in the oven and radiant heat energy coming through the glass. That cooks the crust more, esp. if you leave it in for the full time at that heat level. Try lowering the temperature by 25ºF, and check it more often.
Kc
Fresh raspberries circled on top make this a delicious summer dessert
Richard
Make this recipe if you want a tart. Make the lemon bar recipe if you want bars. It's like the layer cake vs cupcake "debate."
Mary
I made the lemon curd in my Vitamix. Incredible. And, so darn easy!
mercedes
i made a tart crust vegan by using margarine and added nutritional yeast (to taste) to give it some umami. it was a huge hit at the party i brought it to.
Izzy
I have used Melissa Clark's lemon curd with olive oil and Miyoko's butter sub and many crumb crusts using Miyoko's with great success.
Marianna
It says 9 inch in the instructions :-)
Helen Cz
Decadent lemon pie. I always fiddle - less sugar & butter, but great.
Nancy S.
made it last night and definitely yes! In fact, while i liked it, I felt like it needed a little something extra - strawberries would have been perfect
Sharon B
If you don't have a 9" tart pan, an 8x8" square will work. Now you're making lemon bars, which is hardly a bad thing.
Ann O’Neill
This sounds like a recipe that could easily be adapted to individual-sized tarts cooked in smaller tart pans or ramekins. I could spend time Googling how to adapt cook times but no result would be specific to this recipe. If anyone has already done this, and is willing to share, I’d appreciate the head start!
susieQ
Made this for New Years!!!! Disaster!!!Curd never gelled. Spent hours waiting for it to thicken and when it reached 170 degrees it poured i to the baked shell!!Uh oh!!!!
Tia
For those of you having trouble with sticking, the recipe does not call for parchment or foil. Use a tart pan with a removable bottom and press right into the pan. The foil was for the top of the tart on the blind bake of the crust.
Tia
This turned out great. I browned the butter for the crust. I also cooked the lemon curd in a double boiler and I had to bake it for an extra 4 minutes before it was properly set. Otherwise perfection.
vineyridge
I've always made lemon curd in a double boiler. Would this recipe work doing that?
Zoe K
Could this possibly be frozen? I made a bunch of small ones that are a serving each and was wondering if I could chuck them in the freezer for a later date during the summer
Nancy
The crust stuck to the tart pan. No way to get the pie out of the pan without just scraping it adn serving piles of crust and lemon filling. Used a different filling recipe so can't comment on that. But the crust was a total bust.
Quinton R.
This recipe is a delight, my only recommendation if you like super tart lemon desserts is to cut 1/4 cup of the sugar
Emily G
Delicious! For other gluten free cooks, I use the crust from the NYT cranberry curd recipe here instead (which happens to be GF) and it works fantastically!
Antonia
Made this for a friend who really loves lemons and it was a success. I decreased the amount of sugar from 200 g to around 175 g and found that this was perfect, but also don't think the additional 25 would have made this an overly sweet recipe. Also did not bother to sieve and it was fine :) I will probably blind bake without the parchment paper next time (use fork pricks instead) as it got stuck to the dough and was hard to take off after 15 minutes.
CJ48
I prefer blind baking with fork pricks and weights if the dough is intended to be puffy. Just the fork does most often, though. Thanks for the reminder.
Tiffany
Yesss! second / third the chocolate addition. After removing the pie weights I put bittersweet chocolate chips on the bottom of the tart before putting it back in oven to finish blind baking. Melted the chips beautifully. Also a nice surprise because when I cut into it hours later I totally forgot I had a layer of chocolate in there
Doug C.
Two additional comments now that I've tasted the finished tart:1. As others have pointed out, the crust, which I baked in a 9" tart pan, is quite hard, sort of like shortbread; it can be difficult to cut with a fork, but it's great to pick up like a cookie;2. The filling is very lemony and almost too sweet; serve small portions.
Doug C.
Lemon tart very pretty,And the lemon tart is sweet,But the poor parchment lining, Doesn't come out neat!
Peggy G
This recipe is outstanding. I made it the day before and it was outstanding when served. Having the benefit of living in France 6 months each year, this recipe truly is as good as the best I have tasted at a patisserie. I will try adding a thin layer of chocolate one a future preparation.
Marie
The crust is melt in your mouth. I’m used to shortbread crusts that use cold butter and are crumbled then pressed not melted butter which gives it a crisper richer taste. I also had an issue with the crust sticking to the foil not sure how to fix that.I’ll also say I love sour but this one is quite sour so I would take the suggestion of adding more sugar after you’ve thickened it. About 2-4 tbsp.Also added a tablespoon of dried lavender to the crust and it was delicious.
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