Well, there she is. My Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, the selection from Tuesday with Dorie this week. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Mary for picking this one. I absolutely needed something spring-like! And I swear as soon as I baked this the neverending rain ceased here in Ohio and the sun finally made a showing! I must confess though that nice weather equals bad blogger (shame on me). The Harley has been waiting patiently for months now and there is no way we couldn't ride this past weekend. So, we ended up cruising around all day and even ended up witnessing a wedding in a biker bar (yep, ceremony and all). The groom had on his best Harley shirt and Levi's. We didn't even know them, but my karaoke rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" will surely be one of their fondest wedding memories.........ah, I love weddings!
So, I finally got around to making my tart Sunday evening. I really didn't have many expectations, since I have never really liked or disliked lemon. But as soon as my grater hit that first lemon, I was hooked. Ahhh, that smell (ooh, great Skynard song!).
The crust was a snap to make in the processor. I chose to replace some of the flour with hazelnuts and that proved to be my first good choice. It baked up beautifully and had a wonderful shortbread-like texture. The only annoying part of this recipe is whisking the lemon cream to exactly 180 degrees. But I stayed true to the recipe and my filling turned out perfectly. I ended up topping it off with some cream and blackberries.
Extraordinary is a great was to describe this recipe. The cream was so lush and citric. The crust outstanding. Put it all together---amen! I'll make this again. Maybe next time with key limes:)
RECIPE TO BE POSTED
OH!!!! By the way, I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow and the hubby and I said no laptops, no cell phones. So you will have to miss me for a week. I will have to bow out of the next Tuesdays with Dorie. See you next Wednesday! And mom don't forget to water the herbs in the windowsill!
