Italian Lemon Tart from Disney Cruise Line

This weekend was my older sister's birthday.  I sneakily found out what her favorite dessert(s) were before hand: berry shortcake or lemon tart.  Well, remember those awesome Disney cookbooks I got on vacation?  (Delicious Disney Desserts & Check Mickey: Treasures from the Vault & Delicious New Favorite)  Coincidentally, the former had a recipe for Italian Lemon Tart from Disney Cruise Line.

Pastry:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup ice-cold water

Knead the powdered sugar lightly with the butter.  Add flour and egg yolk and knead until mixture is crumbly.  Add water a tablespoon at a time until dough just holds together.  Roll dough into a ball and flatten into a disk.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Roll dough on a lightly floured surface into an 11-inch circle.  Transfer dough to a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom or a 9-inch pie pan and fold edges over to form a double-thick crust.  Pierce dough 15-20 times with a fork.  Bake crust 25 to 30 minutes, pressing with the back of a fork if bubbles form.  Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Filling:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• fresh fruit (optional)

Whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, eggs, sugar, and cream.  Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into the warm tart shell.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until filling is set in the center.  Let tart cool completely.  Garnish with fresh fruit, if desired. 

Dinner turned out to just be four of us...Mom, Cady, Tristan, and me.  We chowed down on steak, couscous, hummus, and pita.  Delicious.

We served the tart and it turned out perfect!  Other than having a bit of an uneven crust, it was awesome.

It was so yummy!  The only thing we decided we would change is probably less sugar in the crust and a little bit of salt.  That contrast between sweet filling and salty crust is perfection.

It says it serves 6-8 people, but the 4 of us barely ate 1/3 of the tart, so it's probably more like 10-12, depending on how big your slices are.

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