Recipe for classic French lemon tart

This easy peasy lemon squeasy recipe for classic French lemon tart – tarte au citron in French – is easy to make but packs a massive wow factor. It’s delicious on its own or with ice cream or cream. And if you buy pastry instead of making it, is ready to eat from scratch in less than an hour! This is how my neighbour Claudette, the best cook in the village makes it, and I like to dust it with icing sugar for extra sweetness but if you like your tarts tart – leave it out!

Ingredients for a lemon tart for 4

1 quantity sweet pastry (recipe here but shop bought pastry saves time!)
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
250 g (1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
185 ml (¾ cup) double (thick/heavy) cream
250 ml (1 cup) lemon juice
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
Icing (confectioners) sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F/Gas 5).

Roll out the pastry to line a 23 cm (9 inch) round tart tin (the loose bottom ones make this easy to remove). Chill the tin in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together and add the cream, whisking all the time, then stir in the lemon juice and zest.

Line the pastry shell with greaseproof paper (scrunch it up), and baking beads (or dried beans or rice). Blind bake the pastry tor 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beads and bake for another 3-5 minutes, or until the pastry looks just cooked but still very pale.

Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 150°C (300°F/Gas 2).

Put the tin on a baking tray and carefully pour the lemon filling into the pastry case.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the filling has set.

Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar (optional) and serving.