As summer is officially upon us, what better way to celebrate this wonderfully warm weather than with this lemon blueberry tart! The crust has just enough sweetness to balance the lemon curd, which will make your lips pucker, and then a nice burst of blueberry on top brings this dessert together.
Pâte sucrée you say? Yes, I am adding a little bit of french into today's baking! Although it sounds more lovely in french, sugar dough is what you will be making for your crust. It's quite similar to a sugar cookie, but take out the leavener and other sweetening agents (such as honey and vanilla), so that it crumbles perfectly when you bite it.
Next question: why lemon curd and blueberries? Well what screams summer better than citrus and fruit?! Light, satisfying, sweet, guilt-free (kind of!), and delicious right out of the fridge. As blueberries are native to Maine, lemons are basically native to my house. My mom lives for them! Lemon glaze on muffins, putting an entire lemon (skin included) into a smoothie, even my niece gets her with the Lemonade Girl Scout Cookies. If one of our family members doesn't like lemons, too bad, you pretend you do!
But for real, this lemon blueberry pie will fulfill your need for dessert all year round, especially now when it happens to be sweltering out and your cravings for a light, refreshing sweet are at an all-time high. So start baking, it's not getting any cooler!
pâte sucrée ingredients
Butter—14 oz, or 1 ¾ C
Sugar—3.5 oz, or ¼ C + 2 TBL
Brown Sugar—3.6 oz, or ½ C
Eggs—1
Yolks—2
Salt—½ tsp
Flour—20 oz, or 4 C
*Note: This recipe will make three (3) 10" tart shells!*
process
In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars.
Once light & fluffy, scrape the sides of your bowl and add in the egg and yolks.
Mix until incorporated.
With the mixer on low, slowly add in your salt and flour until combined well.
Put your dough onto plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator to chill.
When you are ready to bake your dough/it has become cold, preheat your oven to 300˚ F and spray your pan with nonstick spray.
Sprinkle flour on your work surface so that the dough does not stick.
Take half of the dough you have made, knead it in the flour so that it becomes more pliable and easy to work with.
Roll out into a circle that is about ¼” thick and at least an inch wider than the pan you will be using.
*Note: when you are rolling your dough, make sure that you turn it a quarter after each roll. This will help prevent the dough sticking to your work surface and tearing.*
Place into your pan and press your dough in all of the crimps.
Using a fork, make lots of little air holes all over the bottom of your crust. This will help prevent the dough from being too puffy in the center.
If your dough happens to tear, don’t worry! You can easily squish it back together, which is what makes this dough so fun to work with.
Put in your preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, until it is lightly golden all over.
lemon curd ingredients
Lemon Juice—7 oz, or ¾ C + 3 TBL
Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C
Butter—7 oz, or 14 TBL
Yolks—9
process
Put the yolks in a medium bowl that will be large enough to temper in the hot liquid.
In a medium sized pot, combine the juice, sugar and butter.
Bring this mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, stream into the yolks (temper) while constantly whisking!!
Pour everything back into the pot over medium heat, whisking.
This mixture will thicken and begin to boil again.
When boiling, remove from heat and pour into your prebaked pie shell.
Allow to cool for about 15-20 minutes.
Once cool, put in the refrigerator to completely set.
To garnish—adding fresh fruit (I like blueberries!) to the top of your dessert adds just the right amount of sweetness to the tart lemon curd.
Other additions—I like to use some toasted coconut as a layer before adding the lemon curd. It will be quite a sweet surprise to your guests, bringing a unique texture and flavor that you never knew went so well with lemon and fresh berries!
Bon Appétit!