Lemon Tart

Method

1. Preheat your fan oven to 180c
2. Place your flour, xanthan gum, caster sugar and salt into a bowl and mix. Make sure your butter is cold, cut it into small cubes and rub it in till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Beat your 2 eggs together and gradually add them. Use a fork to bring it all together, which should form a ball and not be very crumbly.
4. Wrap your pastry in cling film or place in a sandwich bag. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes
5. When your pastry is cold enough, roll it out either straight onto a floured work surface, or, my preferred way is to roll it out between two pieces of floured cling film. I roll mine to be just under 1cm thick.
6. Remove the top layer of cling film and gently roll the pastry around the rolling pin itself. Lay your pastry over your tin with the bottom piece of cling film now on the top. Then gently peel off the cling film and press it into the tin. You do have to be very careful and it’s completely ok to have to patch up any cracks (I make enough pastry so there is plenty left for you to do this). Allow some overhang as pastry tends to shrink!
7. Pop the pastry in the fridge in the tin (covered loosely with cling film) for about 20 minutes. Next, use a fork to prick the base of your pastry and then place either foil or baking paper onto the pastry and weigh it down with baking beans (or rice, anything that you would use to blind bake). Blind bake for about 15 minutes.
8. Remove the baking paper and beans from the pastry. Beat your final pastry egg and using a pastry brush give the entire pastry case a light egg wash. Then pop the pastry back in the oven for another 12 minutes.
9. Take out of the oven and allow to cool. Carefully remove any overhanging pastry. I often do this by rolling my rolling pin over the top of the tin.
10. Reduce the oven temperature to 150C fan.
11. To make the lemon filling, whisk your five eggs together by hand. Then zest and juice all your lemons and add to the mixture.
12. Add the rest of the filling ingredients and whisk until combined.
13. Place your pastry tin onto a baking sheet and then pour your lemon mixture carefully into the tin.
14. Pop into the oven for about 35 minutes until just set.
15. Remove from the oven and wait for the tart to cool before removing it from the tin. Serve up warm or cold and with sifted icing sugar sprinkled on top.

Make this indulgent treat on one of our range cookers.