Meyer Lemon Tart

By Amanda Hesser

Meyer Lemon Tart
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(1,573)
Comments
Read comments

The Meyer lemon has always been something of a California secret, and every year when its brief growing season begins there, eager cooks sigh with relief. The Meyer is not as assertive as the common supermarket varieties, but it offers so much more in nuanced flavor that it is unforgettable. And these days, the Meyer's secret is finally out. A Meyer lemon contains about four times the sugar of a regular lemon, but it can be used almost interchangeably with the traditional varieties, adding a rounder edge to both sweet and savory dishes. And you can use the whole thing – from pulp to peel. This gorgeous tart is the ideal way to showcase its seductive fragrance and flavor. (Regular lemons will work well in this recipe too, but you'll likely want to add a bit more sugar.)

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Ingredients

Yield:One 10-inch tart

    For the Crust

    • 8ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan
    • ½cup sugar
    • 1egg yolk
    • ½tablespoon milk
    • 12ounces (about 2⅓ cups) all-purpose flour
    • ¼teaspoon salt

    For the Lemon Curd

    • 1¼pound (5 or 6) Meyer lemons
    • 1cup sugar
    • 5½ounces (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan
    • 7large egg yolks
    • 5large eggs
    • ⅛teaspoon salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Make the crust: in the bowl of a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and the milk, and beat to combine. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with salt. Slowly add the flour to the butter mixture, stirring until completely blended. Gather dough into two balls. Freeze one for future use, chill the other for at least 1 hour.

  2. Step 2

    Heavily butter a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough into the pan and trim the edges. Prick the bottom with a fork, and place the shell in the freezer for 30 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    While shell is in freezer, prepare lemon curd. Grate zest of lemons. Squeeze lemons to extract 1 cup of juice. In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine juice and zest. Add remaining sugar, butter and salt. Place over medium heat, stirring once or twice, until sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted.

  4. Step 4

    In bowl of a mixer, combine eggs and egg yolks until blended. Slowly add hot lemon mixture to eggs until blended. Return mixture to saucepan, and place over low heat. Whisk constantly until mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency; do not allow it to boil. Remove from heat, and continue to stir to stop the cooking. Strain lemon curd into a bowl. Adjust sugar to taste; the curd should be tart, but may need additional sugar if the lemons were unripe. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it right against the surface of the curd. Allow to cool.

  5. Step 5

    Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove tart shell from freezer, and bake until lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Spoon lemon curd into tart shell, and smooth the top. Bake until filling has puffed around the edges, about 30 minutes. Cover edges with foil, if necessary, to prevent over-browning. Cool to room temperature before serving.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,573 user ratings
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Comments

Lucas Eller

My husband and I followed this recipe exactly as it is, the result is outstanding. I've eaten this pie in different restaurants, but the 1 we made tonight is w/out exaggeration incomparable: It's just the best ever! The crust came out perfect. The fragrance is just irresistible. I cooled it in the freezer for 20 minutes prior to serving.
(For those sharing their opinion here w/out making the recipes: No one cares about what you think, you're just annoying, so stop it!)

Tara

Three parts of this recipe didn't quite work for me. 1) I needed 2lbs of meyer lemons to get 1 cup of juice. 2) The curd took a 45 min to thicken to anywhere near pudding consistency--especially confusing given the whole recipe is supposed to take 1 hour. 3) Against my better judgement, I followed the instructions to put the pastry shell in the oven without pie weights. The base rose to the height of the sides; the sides puffed over the edge of the pan, like pancake batter.

Gail Hutcheson

I'm so happy to hear someone else trying to stop ridiculous time wasting comments like how good this recipe looks, can't wait to make this, etc. Not sure what compels them to such inane comments. I don't see this when reading reviews of movies!!

The Mom

So I did make this and I liked the recipe - perfection for balance of flavor. I’m wondering if chilling the dough (then warming it to place in the tin) keeps the crust flaky by stopping the gluten from forming. Thoughts? Otherwise the step seems superfluous.

SW

We had a bumper crop of Meyer Lemons on our little tree so I tired my hand at this recipe. It came out perfect and was delicious! A few tweaks I made after reading the comments. I made the filling first so it could cool a bit. I used 8 lemons that produced a little over a cup of juice and kept the sugar measurement the same. It was not too tart for our liking. I also used 8 eggs yolks and 4 eggs. I made the dough in my food processor and did not refrigerate it first. I pressed it into the tart pan and placed it in the freezer for 30 minutes. I did blind bake the crust but I did not really find any advantage to it. Next time, I will prick the crust well with a fork and then freeze for 30 minutes and bake. I have pie crust guards which are very helpful to keep all of my pie crust edges from burning. Other than these changes, I followed the directions. The final result is a smooth, pleasantly tart taste accompanied by a buttery sable/shortbread like crust. I did whip fresh cream to dollop on each slice to temper the tartness.

Selina B.

Love the crust in this recipe. Planning to use it for other pie recipes. The filling is very tart and bright. While my husband and boys gave it a pass, my daughter and I loved it in small slices. By day 2 the flavor had mellowed a bit and it suddenly became impossible to resist. The creamy custard is the perfect consistency.

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