Sweet Tooth Sunday

Woo-hoo!  Sugary Overload, uh, I mean Sweet Tooth Sunday.

And check out the cute button up yonder.  Big thanks to the lovely Lisa for taking care of the cuteness!  Love it!  Love Her!  Almost makes me feel official or something.  

So I promised a less heavy more summery treat two weeks ago.  Then I bailed last week.  Hey-Luau on Friday (and learning a Hula in one night-go me!), Puppies being born, swimming and a Bday party on Saturday, then the family Bday party on Sunday kind of threw me off.  Now I'm here redeeming myself with a recipe that I promise was worth the wait.  

My husband just tasted the finished product and his eyes rolled back into his head.  Then he made a comment that was inappropriate, followed by some primal noises, so I'll spare you his exact review.  We'll just say he enjoyed it.  Ok.

Today I give you...........

Lemon Tart.  And not just lemon tart, lemon tart with shortbread crust.

yum.  

Like I would post anything that wasn't yum.  But really, yum.  

And simple, simple, simple!  

Ingredients:  Flour, powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, butter.  Then cream cheese (sorry Kel*see the end), sugar, eggs, and lemons, lemons, lemons!  

Apparently I'm big on saying things in threes, threes, threes today.  

Not sure what's up with that.

First things first:  If you have any paper cuts, cover them with a nice thick waterproof really well fitting bandaid.  Trust me.  

Thank you.

The crust:  Mix your flour, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt.  Throw in your butter, diced up into little pieces and start cutting it in.  

Love a good pastry cutter.  My beloved old Pampered Chef pastry cutter died last pie season.  It was very tragic.  My husband replaced it with this beauty below from Orson Gygi.  Oh Gygis....how I love you.    (their website does not do the store any justice.  It is a foodie wonderland.  Sometime soon I will show you my goodies from the last Gygi visit.)

While I am professing my undying love for the greatest store ever, you are cutting in until things are starting to come together to form clumps.  

Or you can take a shortcut and use a food processor.  Whatever floats your boat.  Now using your fingertips or a spoon, press evenly into a tart pan. 

(HELLO Gorgeous.  Thank you Gygi for my new tart pans.  In 11 inch and 8 inch.  I love you.)

This is the 11 inch, you can use a 9, but an 8 is a bit too small for this recipe.  Too small is not good.  Trust me, I tried.  

Pierce the bottom with the tines of a fork so that it doesn't puff while baking.  

Throw the crust into the freezer for 15min to chill.  Ok, don't throw it.  You might hurt the pan.  Place it in the freezer.  This actually prevents shrinkage.  Go figure.  

Once it is completely chilled, place the tart pan on a larger baking sheet and bake at 425 until golden brown, about 10-15 min.  After it's out, turn your oven down to 350.  

This one is just a tad too done.  Still tasty though!

Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.

Now let's get working on the other good stuff!

You need to juice a couple of your lemons until you have about 1/2c of juice.  Please beware of seeds.  

That would be a rude awakening while eating lemony bliss. 

Also, zest one of those babies.  

Gygis called, my microplane zester is in.  Must pick it up soon!!  This worked for tonight instead.  Close enough for government work. 

Now that you've got your lemon goods ready, jump in!

Again, you can use a food processor, but I just use the hand mixer.  

Beat cream cheese until smooth. 

 Add sugar and beat until thoroughly mixed.  Then add eggs one at a time.  After that's all good and smooth, add lemon juice and zest and mix it all until it is smooth and well incorporated.  

Pour into your pre-baked tart shell and bake at 350 for 25-30min or until filling is set. 

Let this beauty cool on a wire rack, then cover and refrigerate until well-chilled, at least an hour.  Unless your hubby can't wait that long.  In which case it does still taste amazing when slightly warm (he lasted 43min in case you were wondering.  I guess if you round up that's almost close to an hour).

Serve this baby up plain, or sprinkle it with powdered sugar.  Also super yummy with whipped cream, but I haven't been to Costco yet this month so I don't have any.  

Just pretend there is a fancy little dollop on top there.  

**Oh, Kelsey, I have a recipe that is made w/out the cream cheese.  So I promise if I ever serve this for dessert when you're here, it will be that one.  

Lemon Tart

Crust:

1c flour

1/3c powdered sugar

dash salt

1/2c (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:

5 ounces cream cheese

3/4c sugar

2 eggs

1/2c lemon juice

1 tsp- 1 Tbsp lemon zest  (I prefer less, but if you want a super lemony taste, go more)

Mix flour, sugar, salt.  Add butter and cut together until mixture forms clumps.  Press into tart pan.  Pierce bottom of crust with fork.  Place in freezer to chill for 15min, remove when fully chilled and bake at 425 degrees for 10-15min until light golden brown.  Allow to cool on wire rack.

For filling: beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add sugar, mix well.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, mix until thoroughly incorporated.  Pour into pre-baked tart crust.  Bake at 350 degrees 25-30min.  Allow to cool on wire rack, chill in refrigerator at least one hour.