Winged Musings: Lemon Curd Tart with Cornmeal Crust

If you like a rich, buttery lemon dessert, you are going to love this one. This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's Marbled Lemon Tart w Sage-Cornmeal Crust. I omitted the sage as I was making it for my Father who would not have appreciated that ingredient. I feel compelled to share with you my experience with making this. The instructions are easy and straight-forward; however, the problem was with the cooking time on the stove. The instructions say to place heatproof bowl over simmering water and whisk constantly until thickened and instant read thermometer reads 160*. The first time I made this, I removed it from the heat when it reached 160* even though it was not thickened. It never got real thick and when you cut into it (after being in the frig overnight), it ran like eggs yolks. Tasted wonderful, but wasn't pretty and the swirls sank as they were heavier than the lemon mixture. This time, I cooked it until it became thick. The temperature on the thermometer was more like 168*. It could be my thermometer is not accurate. So my recommendation to you is to cook until it becomes thickened no matter what the instant read says. Additionally, when in the ice water bath I continually stirred it beyond the 2 minutes as I didn't feel it had thickened much, if at all. I probably kept it in the bath more like 5-6 minutes. I was determined that this curd would be thick this time and it worked beautifully!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

1 tablespoon cold water

6 large egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Sage-Cornmeal Crust

3 tablespoons creme fraiche (I used sour cream thinned with sugar)

DIRECTIONS

STEP 1

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small bowl, and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.

STEP 2

Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large heatproof bowl. Gradually whisk in lemon juice. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and whisk constantly until mixture has thickened and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Whisk in gelatin mixture. Remove from heat, and whisk in butter, a few pieces at a time, until smooth. Let cool, stirring occasionally. Prepare an ice-water bath. Place bowl of yolk mixture over bath, and stir until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.

STEP 3

Spread curd into crust; smooth top. Dollop creme fraiche on top. Using a wooden skewer or the tip of a knife, swirl creme fraiche into curd to create a marbleized effect. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours (or up to overnight).