Lemon Tart (Tarte au Citron)
This is a classic French lemon tart recipe (aka: Tarte au Citron) that is surprisingly easy to make and incredibly delicious. Finished with a dusting of powdered sugar, this beautiful lemon tart is elegant in its simplicity, and even more impressive when served with some fresh raspberries and a raspberry coulis.
This tart recipe uses our Shortcrust Pastry (or you can use store bought pastry dough) that is blind baked, then filled with a very tart lemon custard filling. You know this is an authentic French lemon tart when you get that pucker with your first bite! Want to know more about this Tarte au Citron, and how you can make it gluten-free? Read more about this in our Blog Comments & Tips.
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RECIPE
(Check out our Step by Step Instructions below the recipe card.)
Recipe Updated: 3/30/22
LEMON TART (Tarte au Citron)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place the oven rack in the middle of your oven, then preheat your oven to 375°F. Using a nonstick 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom for this recipe, follow our easy Shortcrust Pastry recipe (or use store bought pastry dough) and blind bake the pastry dough according to our instructions until it’s light golden brown. Cool the crust completely before adding the filling.
- Grate the lemon zest, squeeze lemon juice, and strain the juice through a fine mesh strainer. Add the juice, zest, and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute, then stop to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Beat on medium speed until well combined and the sugar has dissolved (another 1-2 minutes).
- While mixer is on medium speed, slowly pour cream into the lemon/sugar mixture. Beat until well combined. Add eggs and yolks - one at a time.
- Before filling your crust, line the outside of your pan with foil to prevent leaks (see Note #1 and #2 below), and place on a flat baking sheet. Pour the lemon filling into your cooled blind baked crust. With the back of a spoon, gently tap the filling to remove any large air bubbles. Bake oven to 375°F for 20 minutes until the center of filling is set (depending on your oven, you may want to check it at 15 minutes, if it still jiggles, bake for another few minutes).
- Remove from the oven and cool in the tart pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, refrigerate in the tart pan in a covered pie storage container for 8 hours (or overnight). To serve, carefully remove tart from pan and transfer to a serving platter. Dust with powdered sugar, and serve as is, or with fresh raspberries, a sprig of mint, and/or a raspberry coulis.
Notes
- When using tart pans with removable bottoms, it’s easy to accidentally push the bottom of the pan up and break your crust. We recommend you use a flat baking sheet (a pizza pan works great too) under your tart pan, which prevents breaking your crust when transferring it to and from the oven.
- Lining your pan is optional. After blind baking your crust, wait until the tart pan is cool. Then line the outside of your tart pan with foil. Place the lined pan on a flat baking sheet and bake directly on the baking sheet. Do this before pouring your filling into the crust, as the filling is very liquidy, it will likely reach the top and might spill while transferring.
- Yields 8 servings (up to 10 smaller slices).
Nutrition Facts
Calories
303.55Fat (grams)
16.05Sat. Fat (grams)
6.97Carbs (grams)
34.54Fiber (grams)
1.00Net carbs
33.54Sugar (grams)
15.80Protein (grams)
6.02Sodium (milligrams)
194.11Cholesterol (grams)
175.91Nutritional information provided is strictly an estimate and will vary based on ingredient brands and cooking methods. Nutritional calculations do not include fresh raspberries, or raspberry coulis.
Step by Step Instructions
Blind Baking Shortcrust Pastry
STEP 1
Place the oven rack in the middle of your oven, then preheat your oven to 375°F.
Use a nonstick 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom, and follow our easy Shortcrust Pastry recipe (or use store bought pastry dough). Blind bake the pastry dough according to our Shortcrust Pastry Blind Baking Instructions until it’s light golden brown (as shown in this photo). Cool the crust completely before adding the filling.
Note: When using tart pans with removable bottoms, it’s easy to accidentally push the bottom of the pan up and break your crust. Using a flat baking sheet (a pizza pan works great too) under your tart pan prevents breaking your crust when transferring it to and from the oven. Once crust is cooled, do not add your filling until your tart pan is sitting on your flat baking sheet.
Filling
PREPARATION
Organize all your tools and ingredients before you begin. Getting all your ingredients in one place at the beginning will shorten your prep time.
STEP 2
a) Grate the zest of 4 lemons (about 2 tablespoons packed), then squeeze ⅔ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice. Strain the juice through a fine mesh strainer to remove any seeds.
b) Add the lemon juice, zest, and ½ cup superfine sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.
c) Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute, then stop to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Beat on medium speed until well combined and the sugar has dissolved (another 1-2 minutes).
Note: Lemon zest can be lightly packed. It may seem like a lot of zest, but it’s the zest that will maximize the lemon flavor in this tart.
STEP 3
While mixer is on medium speed, slowly pour 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream into the lemon/sugar mixture. Beat until well combined. Add 4 eggs and 3 egg yolks - one at a time, and beat until combined and frothy.
STEP 4
Before filling your crust, we recommend lining the outside of your pan to prevent leaks (see Notes below), and placing it on a flat baking sheet. Pour the mixture into your cooled blind baked crust. With the back of a spoon, gently tap the filling to remove any large air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes until center of filling is set (depending on your oven, you may want to check it at 15 minutes, if it still jiggles, bake for another few minutes).
Notes: a) After blind baking your crust, wait until the tart pan is cool. Then line the outside of your tart pan with foil. Place the lined pan on a flat baking sheet pan (or pizza pan) and bake directly on the baking sheet. b) Lining your pan is optional. Whether you line your pan or not, it’s important to place it on the baking sheet pan before pouring your filling into the crust, as this filling is very liquidy, will likely reach the top, and might spill while transferring.
STEP 5
Remove from the oven and cool in the tart pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, refrigerate in the tart pan in a pie storage container for 8 hours (or overnight). When ready to serve, carefully remove tart from pan and transfer to a serving platter. Dust with powdered sugar, and serve as is (or try one of our serving suggestions)!
Serving Suggestions
Optional Garnishes: Another dusting of powdered sugar, a few fresh raspberries, and a sprig of fresh mint add a lovely touch to this dessert. This lemon tart also tastes wonderful with a Raspberry Coulis (try this quick and easy recipe!). Don’t be afraid to get creative with your garnish designs!
Notes:
This tart may look very elegant, but it’s quite simple to make. Although we highly recommend using our Shortcrust Pastry recipe, you can make this tart very quickly by using a good quality store bought pastry dough, and blind baking according to our Blind Baking Instructions from our Shortcrust Pastry recipe.
VIDEO
LEMON TART (Tarte au Citron) - How to Make this Super Tangy Lemon Tart!
Blog Comments & Tips
Easy, elegant, and perfectly tart!
This classic French Lemon Tart recipe (Tarte au Citron) is incredibly delicious and so simple to make. It’s so wonderfully lemony and tart that you will want to make it over and over again just for yourself, or anyone who enjoys tart lemon desserts.
When I was young, I was incredibly fortunate to spend some of my summers in Europe with my family. In France, it seemed that every single street had at least one bistro, and one pâtisserie (pastry shop). Luckily, things have not changed much when it comes to European pastry shops, or bistros. As a child (and as an adult), I always felt like I was walking into a fantasy world of desserts when I entered a pâtisserie!
Although all of Europe has amazing pastries, to me the pastries in France are like no other. Okay, so I am a bit biased towards French cuisine - but if you have ever tried authentic French pastries, you must admit they are both stunning and delicious! Whether walking the streets of Paris, or in a small village anywhere in France, your eyes are automatically drawn to the beautiful window displays of the pâtisseries. All the pastries are lined up perfectly in a refrigerated glass case directly in front of the shop windows. They honestly look like colorful little jewels displayed in a glass jewelry box.
When I was young, I used to beg my parents to buy one of those gorgeous pastry creations - EVERY SINGLE TIME we passed by a pastry shop in Europe. Nowadays, I have to use every bit of willpower I can muster to refrain from stopping into every single pâtisserie and buying at least one or two pastries!
French pastry shops always had an abundance of beautiful chocolate pastries, but they also carried wonderful lemon and fruit tartlets. Although I’m a through and through chocoholic, I almost equally love tart lemon desserts. For me, taking that first bite of a small lemon tartlet has always been the absolute best! As if being surrounded by pastry shops on the streets of France wasn’t enough, practically every bistro in France had (and still has) amazing desserts, too. Finding a Tarte au Citron (lemon tart) on the menu or on a dessert cart of a bistro, is pretty standard anywhere in France.
With all that lemon tart history, we had to challenge ourselves at PMR to get as close as we could to the flavor of a traditional Tarte au Citron. It took us a few attempts (including one miserable fail where I actually stuck my hand through the bottom of a freshly baked tart crust - I kept photographic evidence), but we narrowed it down to the perfect lemon intensity, while still making it an approachable recipe. We feel this version is as authentically French as you can get.
Although it looks quite elegant, this dessert is surprisingly easy to make. Although you could buy a store bought pastry dough, we used a traditional Shortcrust Pastry recipe and made the filling lemony and perfectly tart. As a “lemon-barometer,” we used this mantra to determine whether we had reached full lemon octane (without making it bitter).
“If this dessert doesn’t leave you with a bit of a pucker, then it’s not a good lemon tart!”
And, I must say that this lemon tart gives you that perfect pucker! To top it off, we made a wonderful Raspberry Coulis (recipe coming soon) to garnish the plate. Biting into that first lemony bite, with a touch of Raspberry Coulis (try this quick and easy recipe for this raspberry sauce!), brought me back to some wonderful memories with my family in France. I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Now let’s make sure you get the best results from our recipe.
Our 5 tips to making an amazing Lemon Tart (Tarte au Citron):
Use fresh organic lemons and fresh eggs.
Beat the lemon juice, zest, and sugar until the sugar fully dissolves (and scrape the bowl in between).
Use our Shortcrust Pastry recipe for a lovely buttery and flaky, shortbread-like tart crust.
Place your tart pan on a flat baking sheet (or pizza pan). This will prevent you from accidentally poking your fingers through the bottom of the crust.
Chill your crust well just before baking, Then blind bake the crust according to our Shortcrust Pastry Blind Baking Instructions. Don’t overbake your crust, as it will continue to cook when you bake the tart filling. Make sure to completely cool your crust before adding the filling.
Want to know how to make this recipe gluten-free?
Pimp Our Recipe:
Make it Gluten Free: Replace the flour in our Shortcrust Pastry recipe with a 1:1 Gluten Free Flour. It will result in a more dense crust, but it’s a good alternative.
Make it Milder: Try using Meyer lemons to give it a slightly milder and sweeter lemon flavor.
Make it Lux: Serve it with our Raspberry Coulis (raspberry sauce - recipe coming soon).
Enjoy and let us know what you think by commenting below, rating our recipes, subscribing, following, and liking us on Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube! Don’t forget to subscribe to get updates on new recipes and tips & tricks.
Happy Cooking!
Mich
Footnote: Remember to use a baking sheet pan under your tart pan to prevent accidentally breaking the crust when you transfer it to and from the oven.
Adapted from the Lemon Tart recipe from the The French Recipe Cookbook by Carole Clements and Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen, we’ve taken this classic French recipe, amped up the lemon, and changed a couple of techniques which yielded amazing results!
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