Mary Berry is known for her fantastic baking treats from her classic scones to her incredible coffee and walnut cake recipe, there are so many to choose from.
Her classic lemon is another recipe that is adored and sure to be a big crowd-pleaser.
A good lemon tart will finish almost any meal perfectly. It is rich enough to follow a light lunch, but the tangy citrus hit cuts through the indulgent cream and sugar in the filling, so it’s a good choice after a big meal too.
With Easter coming up, this lemon tart would make for the perfect dessert after your roast dinner.
Describing the sweet treat, Mary claimed it makes “delicious crisp pastry with a smooth lemon filling” and that it can be served warm or cold.
Ingredients
For the pastry
225g plain flour
150g cold butter, cut into small cubes
25g icing sugar
One large egg, beaten
Two tablespoons water
For the lemon filling
Nine large eggs
300ml double cream
350g caster sugar
Six large lemons, finely grated zest and juice
Method
Before starting households will need a 28cm deep loose-bottomed tart tin for this recipe.
To make the pastry, add the flour, butter and sugar to a processor. Give it a whiz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs and then add the egg and water before mixing it again until it forms a ball.
Get the ball of pastry and roll it out thinly on a floured work surface until it is just a little bigger than the size of the tin.
Line the tart tin with the pastry, letting the extra pastry hang over the sides of the tin. Place on a baking tray and then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Nearing the end of the 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line the tin with nonstick paper fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven until pale golden brown.
When a pastry case is filled with a custard or liquid filling, it is difficult to get the pastry cooked through by the time the filling is set. Blind baking ensures that the pastry is cooked properly.
After, take the pastry out of the oven and remove the baking beans and paper. Carefully trim the excess pastry from the sides using a sharp knife. Return the empty pastry shell to the oven for another 10 to 12 minutes or until it is completely dry. Then set aside to cool.
Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 before adding all the filling ingredients into a bowl and whisking until smooth. Carefully pour the filling mixture into the cold-baked pastry case.
The next step is to transfer the tart and tray carefully to the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until just set but still with a slight wobble in the middle. The filling will sink a bit when it has cooled.
Leave to cool a little, or completely, and then remove it from the tin. Transfer to a serving plate and dust with icing sugar to serve.
