Perfect crumbly pie with a creamy lemon curd filling. This lemon tart is the ultimate summer cake when you need a refreshing dessert on a hot evening.

overhead shot of three lemon tarts and fresh lemons on a white background

I don’t know about you but I’ve always been obsessed with chocolate desserts and I wasn’t very open to other options. Until recent years, when I’ve started to appreciate different flavors. I guess it’s true that taste changes as you age. My mom always told I was going to like lemon much more growing up, and here I am writing a lemon tart recipe. Because, mom is always right! 🙂

Lemon Tart Ingredients

For the Lemon Curd

Lemons: the most important ingredient for this tart. I recommend you use organic lemons, since this creamy lemon curd features both lemons’ zest and juice.
Egg yolks: also in this case use organic eggs, which are healthier and tastier.
Sugar: regular caster sugar, to balance the lemon acidity.
Corn starch: it helps the lemon cream to get thicker.
Milk: use whole milk to give more flavor to the lemon curd.

For the Crust

Flour: All-purpose flour
Baking powder: the regular yeast for cakes
Sugar: caster sugar
Eggs: in this case we use the whole egg
Butter: Unsalted butter
Salt: just a pinch

Lemon Tart Recipe

Recipe by GiadaCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Perfect crumbly pie with a creamy lemon curd filling. This lemon tart is the ultimate summer cake when you need a refreshing dessert on a hot evening.

Ingredients

For the Lemon Curd
1 Lemon zest + juice
2 Egg yolks
30g Corn starch
500g Milk
80-100g Sugar
For the Crust
250g Flour
100g Butter, at room temperature
1 Egg
4g Baking Powder
50g Sugar

Directions

For the Lemon Curd
Warm the milk in a small pot and add the zest of the whole lemon. Don’t bring it to a boil, but keep it at a lower simmer for about 15 min – you will soon start to smell the lemon. Remove the lemon zest with a spoon or filtering the milk with a strainer and set aside for 5 minutes.
In another medium pot whisk the egg yolks with sugar and corn starch, until creamy.
Add the milk to the eggs while you keep whisking to avoid lumps. Place the pot over a low simmer and keep mixing until it goes from liquid to creamy, about 5 minutes.
When the lemon curd got thickened, remove it from the fire and add the juice of the whole lemon
For the Crust
In a large bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add all the rest of the ingredients and start mixing with a spoon. Then continue mixing with your hands until all the ingredients are well combined and you are able to form a ball with the dough.
Making Lemon Tart
Cut the dough in 1/2. Roll both parts with a rolling pin to a round disc. Cover a pie dish with one disc, and prick it with a fork (pricking the bottom of the pie helps the steam to circulate, so the base doesn’t puff up in the oven and doesn’t break while baking).
Fill the base with the lemon curd.
Cut the other disc into stripes and cover the top of the tart with them.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and cook your lemon tart for about 30-40 minutes, or until the crust gets golden

Why Lemon Tart Cracks?

If there is too much butter inside the dough it might happen that it cracks after baking, especially if you cut it while is still hot. I recommend to not exaggerate with the butter, but to keep the proportions you see in the recipe above. Always wait for the tart to be cold before serving it.

Another reason why your tart crack is probably the absence of small holes at the bottom. I recommend to always pick your tart base before filling it. This helps the steam to circulate, so your crust will cook evenly, without puffing up or breaking in the oven.