Lime and Lemon Tart

I looooove Citrus anything. So, the reason for baking this was simply my palate!

... Just to go back a bit though, I feel I need to reiterate that I am very new to baking. I'm making no excuses, just need to be clear on that point...

I only truly discovered my love for baking in the last year-ish. I have always been far more into savoury dishes.

Anyway, back to the title of the blog...

Like most recipes I've used of late, I found this via Google. Going through a number of recipes, I decided on the Lemon Tart from the Exclusively Food site http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/search?q=lemon+tart. This would've been a Lime Tart but unfortunately, Limes are so expensive at the moment so I decided to make it with both Lemon and Lime.

I really wish I had have read all 3 pages provided, properly before getting started (always leaving things last minute ;p). I started preparation at 11am and expected I'd have the Tart cooked and ready to pop in the fridge before heading to work at 2.30pm, then I read on... Make pastry and refrigerate for 2-3 hours... Ummm, oops!! Long story short, I rushed the pastry step! So now, I write this, waiting the 2 hours resting time for my second attempt at the pastry.

To be continued .....

..... Continue ( better late than never ) ...

The pastry has rested for the required time, so it's time to roll it out. This was definitely the most time consuming part of the recipe. It is a fairly crumbly pastry which means it was very delicate. Turning regularly and also moulding the edges is an absolute must. Once rolled, gently place the pastry into the tin (Unfortunately, I don't have a tart tin so had to use a spring tin), which proved quiet difficult. As I very carefully rolled it over the tin, it fell apart....argh! So I then had to put the pastry back together on the bottom and around the sides of the tin, smoothing it with my fingers. Like I said, a long process but when I saw the result, it was well worth it. In fact, I think I will use this pastry recipe for a lot of my sweet pies in the future..

The filling was easy and deliciously citrusy. The only thing I didn't agree with in the instructions, was the time needed to thicken. It took about 12mins. But as the recipe says, if you run your finger along the spatula and it creates a line it's ready. So that is a good measure to go by I think. 

Baked, rested and chilled, it's time to slice it up to take to some of my Taste Testers at work. I took the tin out of the container and.... lost the function of my hands. The tart fell and exploded onto the floor. As I stood, starring in disbelief, I took a deep breath, (stamped my feet just a liitle) and had a giggle! What else could I do?!

So I repeated all of the above steps a couple of days later and you can see the result for yourself. 

I had some Macadamia Nut Honey I got from Tasmania so I put a teaspoon of that into the cream, whipped it up and served it.... Chilled! All in all, a successful recipe.

Pastry
162g (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon) plain flour
38g (1/4 cup) self-raising flour
60g (1/3 cup, firmly packed) pure icing sugar, sifted
100g cold butter, chopped into about 15 pieces
1 large egg yolk (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)

Lemon Filling
4 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
40g (2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon) butter, chopped into a few pieces
166ml (2/3 cup) cream (35 to 40 percent fat)
166ml (2/3 cup) fresh lemon juice
200g (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar

Pastry
Place plain flour, self-raising flour and icing sugar in a food processor and process on medium speed for about 20 seconds to combine the ingredients.