The Best of Both Worlds: Gin and Lemon Tart

Who doesn’t love a classic lemon tart? Who doesn’t love a classic gin and tonic? They both score a big yes from me. The tangy bitterness of a refreshing G&T has me dreaming of balmy summer evenings, and so, inspired by the sudden arrival of summer weather last week, I experimented with a gin and lemon tart.

Of course, Melbourne has confounded us as usual, and it’s a chilly 15 degrees with pouring rain today, but it was lovely while it lasted, and my tarts were a triumph if I say so myself!

I used my go-to gluten free pastry recipe courtesy of Maggie Beer from her series The Cook and The Chef, but made a sweet version by adding 2 teaspoons of caster sugar in place of the salt. This worked a treat, and I highly recommend this if you need a gluten free pastry. If not, then use your favourite short crust pastry recipe, or shop-bought is pretty good if you’re short of time or can’t be bothered.

I’d never attempted a lemon tart of any sort before, so consulted the experts on my cook book shelf. It turned out to be a clash of the titans, with excellent recipes from both Mary Berry and Stephanie Alexander, but Stephanie won the day this time. I used her classic recipe from The Cook’s Companion, so I couldn’t possible go wrong.

I couldn’t decide between one large tart or little tartlets, so I doubled up and made both.

Gin and Lemon Tart

23/11/2016

by The Urban Nest

Category Eat

Ingredients

• 1 quantity of short crust pastry
• 6 free range eggs
• 250g caster sugar
• Grated zest and juice of 3 large lemons
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of gin
• 200ml cream
• Pure icing sugar (check it's gluten free)
• Berries, edible flowers and leaves to decorate

Instructions

• Line a 24cm loose-bottomed flan tin with pastry.
• *If you are using Maggie Beer's gluten free pastry recipe there is no need to blind bake the pastry case - just chill in the fridge whilst you make the filling.
• *If you are using regular pastry then blind bake at 200C for 20 minutes.
• Reset oven to 160C
• In a large bowl, mix sugar and eggs until well combined.
• Add zest, juice and gin and stir well.
• Add cream and mix thoroughly.
• Pour into the just-baked (or chilled) pastry case and bake at 160C for 35-45 minutes until almost set.
• Cool in the tin on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.
• The tart will slice more cleanly if popped in the fridge for a while.
• When completely cool, dust with icing sugar and decorate with berries or flowers.
• Serve with thick cream.

Tags

cooking,

Dessert,

Food,

Gin and Tonic,

gluten-free,

lemon,

Marmoset Found,

recipe,

Safari Living,

summer,

Tart

http://bourne.org/index.php/2016/11/23/the-best-of-both-worlds-gin-and-lemon-tart/

So tangy, with the slight bitterness of gin to cut the sweetness – not too shabby for a first go. I even managed to make it an excuse for a cheeky day-time G&T treat for myself!

Thanks to Safari Living for the loan of their beautiful servingware and glassware.