Name: Tarte au Citron
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 8 Servings
Ingredients: butter, cold: 1/2 cup; castor sugar: 1/4 cup; flour: 1 cup; salt: 1/4 tsp; eggs, room temperature: 4; castor sugar: 1 2/3 cups; lemon zest: 1-2 tbsp; lemon juice, fresh: 2/3 cup; flour: 2/3 cup; lemon extract: 1-2 drops; vanilla pod: 1/4; powdered sugar; lemon slices

Ingredients

Crust:

1/2 cup butter, cold

1/4 cup castor sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

Filling:

4 eggs, room temperature

1 2/3 cups castor sugar

1-2 tbsp lemon zest

2/3 cup lemon juice, fresh

2/3 cup flour

1-2 drops lemon extract

1/4 vanilla pod

Garnish:

powdered sugar

lemon slices

Directions

When life gives you lemons… make tarte au citrons, or lemon tarts, bars, squares…

This recipe was sort of a last minute impromptu bake. My most favourite man in the world – my vegetable vendor – bought me a crate of these large humungous lemons from Australia, which pretty much made my entire week oh-so-beautiful. And to top it off, he even handed me over a whole package of these gorgeous deliciously sweet Himachal peaches. Needless to say, I had an exciting and happy week! (I told you, it doesn’t take much to make me happy!)

In such excitement, I went ahead to make lemon bars from my mother’s recipe, which hadn’t been made in years. I couldn’t forgo this opportunity. I made these at 8 PM, realised halfway that I didn’t have enough eggs, rushed out to get them, and restarted the whole process. That’s what happens when I don’t plan well.

The filling is sort of an in between of lemon curd and lemon jelly, with lots of fresh lemon juice, lovely lemon zest and real vanilla beans.

I then cut some extra slices, grilled on a hot pan with some sugar, and garnish each bar. A few bites in and you shall be transported to a lovely little village in France, surrounded by lavender fields, lovely cheeses and wine!

Note: these lemon bars don’t stay long and should ideally be eaten within a day and half. Although this has never been a problem in my house!

Photo Credits: The Kitchen Trail by Krishna Lalbhai

Steps

1 Done	Crust Cream butter and sugar until light with an electric mixer. Add in flour and salt with mixer on low until a soft dough forms. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll the dough out on parchment paper and transfer into a pie tin. Chill again in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven at 175°C. Bake the pie crust for 10-13 minutes.
2 Done	Filling Whisk the eggs and sugar until frothy. Then add in the lemon juice, zest, vanilla pod scrapes, lemon extract and flour and whisk until well frothy. Pour into the pre-baked crust and bake for 20 minutes. The tops would have slightly browned. Cool the bars completely before slicing.
3 Done	Garnish Dust powdered sugar on top, followed by some grilled lemon slices.