Recipe Notes: Lemon-Olive Oil Tart

29 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2019; also available online.

I enjoy lemony desserts like lemon posset and lemon meringue pie. Thus I was happy to see a new recipe for a lemon tart in Cook's Illustrated. It was made even more inviting by the simplicity of the recipe and the use of a surprising ingredient. Inspired in part by olive oil cake, the recipe replaced butter with olive oil in both the crust and the filling. How would this work?  

First, the crust, which, though it is made with flour, is as easy to make as a crumb crust. The dry ingredients—AP flour, sugar, and salt—were whisked together. Extra-virgin olive oil and water was whisked into the dry ingredients: voila, the crust was done. It was crumbled into a tart pan and pressed by hand into a smooth crust. This was baked in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes. The filling was made while the crust baked. Sugar, flour, and salt were whisked together in a sauce pan. Eggs and egg yolks were whisked into the dry ingredients followed by lemon zest and lemon juice. The filling was cooked slowly to a temperature of 160° which took a little longer than the 8 minute estimate in the recipe. Off heat, olive oil was whisked into the filling. The warm filling was poured into the warm crust and then baked until just set, about 8 minutes. Total time was 100 minutes but this could have been shortened by not doing mise en place for the filling until the crust was in the oven.

This was a good dessert and worth making again. The crust was crispy and, perhaps not surprisingly, its texture was similar to that of a crumb crust. The filling was tart and fresh, almost too tart but the slight sweetness of the crust was a good complement. Though the crust was no longer crispy after a few days in the refrigerator, the filling was less tart; it was still very good eating.