Figgy Lemon Tart

Oddly enough, I have been craving all things lemon. Why is this odd, you ask? Well, I don’t like lemon. Actually I don’t mind lemon, I just don’t love it. But lately, I’ve been adding  lemon to everything and loving it. To me, that’s weird. I have never liked lemon meringue pie, lemon bars, lemon pudding, lemon pound cake, lemon on my fish… I think it’s true what “they” say about our tastes changing and becoming more refined as we get older, but mine seem to be changing at warp speed. I’ve been craving and eating all kinds of foods over the past year that I would never have given a second thought to. I kind of like it, a lot. It’s exciting to have a palette change at the age of 43, to try new things, and not be so opinionated on what I think tastes good or doesn’t.

There are a lot of wonderful lemon tart recipes out there. Beautiful and all different depending on the parts of the country or the world. Here are a just a few of the blogs I’ve run across lately.  frugal feeding   seriouseats   manofnovember   peasepudding   thym-thym   smitten kitchen   rosas-yummy-yums

This is my dairy free and gluten-free version of a lemon tart, with a little help from the blogs above. It came out absolutely unbelievable! Smooth, creamy, tart, and with an intense lemon flavor. Seriously…shockingly delicious. I am tickled pink! I have tried on three occasions to make a dairy free coconut cream tart and coconut cream pie in the past that would never set up. I am convinced that it’s the addition of the powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar in the filling (thanks to Frugal Feeding!!). The corn starch they add to the sugar must be the ticket to having a non-dairy filling set up the way it’s supposed to. I would think that if you have a corn allergy you can make your own powdered sugar (with a Vitamix) and add potato starch or tapioca starch. You might want to Google how much to add though, as you don’t want your filling coming out weirdly chewy and thick.

Figgy Lemon Tart

• For The Tart:

1 Cup Mama’s All Purpose Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Rice Flour

1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

1/2 teaspoon salt (I used table not sea because I worried that the sea salt was too large)

2 1/2 teaspoons Pure Almond Extract

1/2 Cup Dairy Free Butter, cold

In a small bowl add both flours, xanthan gum, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a mixer, add the butter and sugar, beat for 30 seconds and scrape down the bowl. Add the almond extract and beat until thoroughly combined and mixture is fluffy. Add the flour mixture and beat on medium for 30 seconds, scrape down bowl. Then beat for about 1 minute or until the mixture begins to almost pull all the way away from the sides of the bowl.

Scoop mixture out into a tart pan with removable bottom.

Press tart crust dough into the tart pan quickly, you don’t want the butter melting too much because it makes the dough too soft. Trim edges on an angle with a very sharp knife. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.

Remove the refrigerated crust after two hours and poke holes around the pan with a fork. Preheat oven to 325°

Line the tart crust with parchment paper and baking beans (or rice, couldn’t find my baking beans) and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove bean/rice and parchment paper and allow to cool while you get the remaining ingredients ready.

•For The Filling:

7 ounces Almond Milk (I like to cook with Almond Breeze because it’s thick)

2 teaspoons Dairy Free Butter

3 Eggs plus 2 Egg Whites

1/2 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

Zest of 6 Lemons (You can use 4 if they are large lemons)

Juice of 4 Lemons

8 Fresh Figs

Heat the almond milk and dairy free butter on low in a small saucepan. Once it was hot I kept mine on warm until I finished the remaining ingredients. Next, in a medium bowl, add the eggs and powdered sugar. Whisk until there are no lumps remaining.

Add the lemon rind and lemon juice and whisk until thoroughly incorporated. Set aside.

Remove the stems from the figs and quarter.

Slowly, drizzle the warm milk and butter mixture into the egg mixture whisking quickly the entire time.

Pour 1/2 of the liquid into the tart shell and add the figs in a nice design.

Pour the remaining liquid into a measuring cup and place the tart pan in a preheated oven. Do not pull out the shelf, because when you pour the remaining liquid into the tart and then have to push the shelf back in, it will slosh all over the place and your beautiful tart will be in the bottom of your oven.

Pour the remaining liquid slowly into the tart pan, it will re-arrange the figs a bit. No worries.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. You want it to have a soft jiggle when you remove it from the oven, similar to jello, but not too much movement. You’ll know if you’ve overcooked it because it will crack and start to pull away from the sides of the tart shell.

I had a little bit of filling and figs leftover. Didn’t want to overfill the crust or have it too figgy.

Allow to cool on the counter and then dust with powdered sugar if you want to eat it room temperature, or allow it to cool on the counter and then refrigerate it for a couple of hours if you want to eat it cold. If you’re serving it cold, wait until you remove it from the fridge to dust it with powdered sugar.

The wind was blowing on the deck so getting the powdered sugar to actually land ON the tart was a challenge.

I don’t want to toot my own horn too loudly, but I must say, this tart was absolutely outstanding. The filling was the perfect texture and absolutely overflowing with intense lemon flavor. The figs were a nice balance and also added beautiful color. The crust was just like a flaky almond butter cookie. And all gluten AND dairy free. Well worth the time it took to put it all together.

See? Living a gluten-free and dairy free life is totally doable.