I love getting invitations to people’s houses for two reasons. The chance to spend time with friends is always welcome but I also love the opportunity to try out a new recipe. It’s usually a chance to make something that’s just a little bit too decadent to make just for me and Will.

My friends are well aware that they are sometimes guinea pigs but more often than not my trial is a success (with the exclusion of my first attempt at beef cheeks, but that’s a story for another day) and at the very least I usually have a backup plan in case things go horribly wrong.

My raspberry and lemon buttermilk tart was no failure (although at one stage I thought it might be). The butter pastry adds crunch to the smooth, subtly-citrussy filling and the raspberries add little bursts of tart sweetness to every bite.

I’ll admit this tart does take a while to make but it’s really not all that involved. If you wanted to make it even easier you could just use store-bought shortcrust pastry but I think you should give the pastry a go. It’s much more satisfying to make it your self rather than take it out of the packet.

Oh how I love my food processor. Yes it’s entirely possible to make things like pastry without one but for this lazy baker, it’s the only way I make it. All you have to do is throw all the ingredients but the egg yolk and water into the bowl, pulse it up until it looks like crumbs then add the yolk and water and process it until if forms… dough! See how easy it is.

You can skip the kneading step in the photo above. Really you just need to turn it out onto the plastic wrap and shape it into a disc. This recipe does take a while but most of the time is taken up by resting and cooling the dough.

I was freaking out a bit while trying to transfer the dough from the bench into the tin. It wasn’t too hard with the aid of the rolling pin though and I’m sure it gets easier with practice. If I can do it, you can do it.

A few things to learn from my experiment here. Firstly, don’t be lazy like me and use ramekins instead of rice. Actually I was being cheap and didn’t want to waste my rice. It worked out ok with the ramekins but it could have been better.

Secondly, if your pastry looks like a disaster when it comes out of the oven there’s no need to panic. You just carefully remove the ugly bits and it will be as good as perfect.

That’s it for tricky part of this recipe. Making the filling is ridiculously easy. Are you ready? Throw all the ingredients (except the raspberries) in the food processor and blend until smooth. See easy.

Throw the raspberries in the cooled pastry shell and then pour the filling over the top. Don’t bother trying to arrange the raspberries nicely on the bottom like I attempted. When you pour in the filling they’ll all move.

After half an hour in the oven your tart will emerge from in all its lemon-raspberry-goodness.

I was too scared to take it out of the tin to photograph. You might be more adventurous than me and serve it just on its base. I think the tin gives it a more rustic look in the tin though. Right? Enjoy!

What about you? What do you usually take when you’re asked to bring something?

 

Raspberry and lemon buttermilk tart

Yield: 10

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 3 hours

Print

Ingredients

Pastry

• 1 & 1/3 cups plain flour + extra for dusting
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 115 g cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large free range egg Yolk
• 2 tbsp ice-cold water

Filling

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 60 g unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large free range egg yolks
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp lemon zest, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 250g g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Instructions

Pastry

1. Put the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the food processor and process until is starts to look like crumbs.
2. Add the egg yolk and water and then process until it all comes together and starts to form a ball.
3. Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on the bench and turn the dough out onto it.
4. Shape it into a dish and wrap it then pop it in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. Grease the tart pan with butter.
6. Take the dough out of the fridge and wrap and place on a lightly-floured surface.
7. Flour the top and roll out out to about 2-3mm thickness (gently hold your baking dish over the top to make sure the pastry is big enough to cover it).
8. Now the tricky part - place the rolling pin on the side farthest away from you then carefully roll the pastry up over the pin until half of it is wrapped.
9. Very carefully lift it and place it over the pastry pan then unroll the rest.
10. Carefully press the pastry into the greased tin and trim away the excess leaving a little bit extra.
11. Cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.
12. Preheat the oven to 155°C fan-forced.
13. Uncover the pastry and place the tart pan on a baking tray.
14. Lay a sheet of baking paper over the pastry and cover the paper with pie weights or rice (I used ramekins but that's not the best ides) then bake the pastry for 25 mins, or until set and beginning to turn golden around the edges.
15. Carefully remove the baking paper and weights and then pop the pastry back in the oven for 5 mins, or until golden brown around the edge.
16. Trim off any extra pastry so that its edges are flush with the tin.
17. Transfer the base to a wire rack to cool completely.
18. Filling
19. To make the buttermilk filling, place the buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, egg yolks, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and salt in the food processor and process until the mixture is smooth.
20. Lay the raspberries out on the cooled pastry base and then pour the buttermilk filling over the top.
21. Shake the pan to make sure all the berries are coated in filling.
22. Bake the tart for 30 minutes or until the filling is just set in the middle.
23. Allow it to cool completely.
24. Serve at room temperature sprinkled with icing sugar.

 

If you liked this post, why not subscribe and receive updates straight to your inbox?

Enter your email: