If you know me at all, you know that I love chocolate. I start each day with a big bowl of hot cocoa, using intense Italian Pernigotti cocoa. (How many people - and I mean normal people - do you know who buy their cocoa by the kilo?)
I also am a fan of chocolate bars, dipped chocolates, Belgian chocolates, Swiss chocolates, French chocolates... I like both dark and milk chocolates.
I even like Hershey Kisses! I grew up near Hershey, Pennsylvania where the street signs looked like Hershey bars. I would go there for my birthday treat, take the tour of the factory and then come home with a bag of kisses. What kid wouldn't love that?
But, when it comes to my birthday cake or a special dessert treat, I run right to lemon. Some of my favorites lemon-y desserts include almond cake filled with lemon curd, lemon chess pie (who among you has never had a lemon chess pie?), lemon macarons (the French variety), lemon squares, lemon mousse... well, you get the idea. No chocolate.
Please don't get me wrong - I do like chocolate desserts but I somehow find lemon much more interesting after a meal. Is it the light flavor? The refreshing quality of the citrus? I don't know.
Last week I promised a lemon-blueberry tart with a lavender shortbread crust and I decided to try out the recipe this week and get it to you sooner than later.
The lavender shortbread crust came out beautifully - the herbal and floral qualities of the lavender was just right in contrast to the tangy citrus filling studded with its sweet berries. I am pretty happy with this dessert, and I think you will be, as well. (Next week I will be guest-blogging at The Littlest Anchovy for my friend Anna in Sydney, while she is here in the States for a wedding! You will get a notice from me with a link - hope you will visit us both on her blog!)
Pucker up for this tart tart!
~ David
Lemon Blueberry Tart with Lavender Shortbread Crust
Crust
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons culinary lavender buds
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
pinch salt
8 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
2 tablespoons ice water
Filling
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
1 cup blueberries, washed and picked over
Make the pastry crust. Place the three tablespoons sugar and the lavender buds in a spice grinder and pulverize until the lavender bugs resemble the sugar crystals. (If you don’t like the lavender flavor in your crust, you can skip this section and just use the 3 tablespoons sugar.)
Put the sugar-lavender mix, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse together three times.
Add butter in 16 pieces and pulse 12 times, or until pieces of butter are about the size of peas. Sprinkle with water and pulse 20-30 times, or until dough almost comes together in a ball around the blade. (See photo at the beginning of the post to gauge what texture you are looking for.) Gather dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Roll out dough into an 11-inch round and then place in a 9-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Fold excess dough down to give crust a thicker wall. Trim and discard scraps. Prick bottom all over with a fork, line with foil and then fill foil with pie weights, beans or rice.
Bake crust for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F, remove foil and weights, and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until crust is golden. Remove from oven and let cool.
Make the filling. Set a pan of water to boil over medium-high heat. Choose a metal bowl that is slightly larger in diameter than the pan of water. Place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the bowl and whisk well for 1 minute.
Place the bowl with the egg-sugar mixture over the boiling water and reduce heat to keep it to a constant simmer. Continue to whisk the mixture constantly for 2-3 minutes, until it has turned pale and foamy, and has thickened a bit.
Add a third of the lemon juice and continue whisking until thickened (about 2-3 minutes). Add another third of the juice and continue whisking until it has once again thickened (2-3 minutes), then the final amount of juice whisking for a final 2 minutes.
Remove pan from the heat and keep custard mixture over the hot water. Add a tablespoon of butter and whisk it into the lemon mixture. When it has been fully incorporated, add another tablespoon. Continue whisking in the butter in this manner until it is all incorporated.
Add blueberries to the tart crust, then top with lemon custard, making sure each berry has been covered, even if only a little.
Using a kitchen blowtorch, carefully brûlée the top of the tart to caramelized lightly. Alternatively, you can put it under the broiler with a watchful eye to the same effect. Chill until set, then remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.
Serves 8.
Labels: blueberries, lavender, lemon, tart, tart crust
