lately i've been obsessed with anything lemon (yogurt, pie, pasta, lotion, candles, soap) and I was just reminded that we have a tart pan hiding in the cupboards that we've never used, so i decided to try making a lemon tart. i've made pies before, but never tarts, and i'm not even entirely sure the main differences? other than they look a little different.



after doing a quick search on the internet, the first recipe I found had cream cheese in the filling and piled high with whipped cream. i'm pretty much on the other side of the fence...i was looking for minimal, straightforward tart without the fluff, and with extreme tart-ness. i found what i was looking for with the tarte au citron on david lebovitz's blog. i like his cooking aesthetic. basic and very tart.

when i was putting together my shopping list (which surprisingly almost everything to make this is already in my pantry!) i realized david's recipe is for a 9 inch tart pan, and mine is 11 inches. there's nothing like a good math problem first thing in the morning (did i mention my love of math??). first, by digging up the formula to calculate the volume of each tart pan, then determining the percentage increase in volume, and multiplying that times each of the ingredients, I came up with the recipe below.

here are the original's:
david's original French Tart Dough Recipe (9 inch tart pan)
david's original Tarte au Citron Recipe (9 inch tart pan)

apparently, the way of cooking this dough is unusual (i don't know since i've never made one). but i found it super duper easy to make. though, my dough wasn't as cohesive as david's and not nearly as pretty in the end, it tasted pretty good.



here's my modified version for an 11 inch tart pan. when you're scaling up, the proportions on everything look a little weird. just go with it.

Lemon Tart Recipe

Tart Shell

11" tart pan

4.65 ounces (about 1.12 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1.5 tablespoon vegetable oil (i.e. canola)

4 2/3 tablespoon water

1.5 tablespoon sugar

1/5 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour

Then I followed this recipe.

Tart Filling

3/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3.5 lemons)

grated zest of 1.5 lemons

3/4 cup of sugar

9.3 tablespoons of butter (salted or unsalted) cut into bits

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

Then I followed this recipe.



Overall, it was quite tasty and very easy! I'm thinking of making one of david's chocolate tarts next!!