Skip to Content

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe (Lemon Tart) is so impressive people will think it came right from a French Bakery! There’s something truly wonderful about homemade lemon tart recipes. . . they require a bit more time in the kitchen however the results are so worth the effort! Our French Tarte Au Citron Recipe or French Lemon Tart begins with a perfectly flakey sweet tart dough, which makes the perfect compliment for the tang of a homemade lemon filling, and then garnished with a dollop of Créme Fraîche! Bon Appétit. 

 

 

My love of French pastries & our French Tarte Au Citron Recipe!

 I fell in love with pastry shops and cafes all over France and I found them simply impossible to pass up when I when I’m in France. Of course I have to do my fair share of taste testing! There are so varieties of pastries that you’d think it’s all the French eat, right?! Surprisingly the ending to many French meals are a fresh, ripe fruits and a lovely wedge of cheese. They also typically follow meals with black coffee as a digestive.  

Cakes and baked goods are usually eaten as a separate meal in the late afternoon or for special occasions. The French have so many wonderful pastries available at local bakery shops, that the food at home baking is kept pretty simple. They also like to bake rustic fruit tarts and cakes using things available in their orchards or gardens.

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe (Lemon Tart) is so impressive people will think it came right from a French Bakery! by cookingwithruthie.com

Culinary Journey around the World & French Tarte Au Citron Recipe!

In our Culinary Journey we’ve explored the beautiful country of France; we started off with a classic crêpes recipe French Pâte à Crêpes recipe. Then, held onto 8-10 of them and made a French Gâteau de Crêpes à la Florentine, and we also made some traditional French Crème Fraîche! Today we’re using the Créme Fraîche which we needed for our amazing French Potage Saint-Germain soup as well as todays recipe.  

Today, we’re finishing up our time in France with this French Tarte Au Citron which uses last weeks French Pâte Brisée Sucrée for the crust! Plus, it uses a 1/4 cup of our French Crème Fraîche! Our French Tarte Au Citron needs two of our other French Culinary Journey recipes… French Crème FraîcheFrench Pâte Brisée Sucrée . This tart is really very simple to make and who doesn’t have room for a slice of bittersweet lemon tart at the end of a meal. 🙂

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe (Lemon Tart) is so impressive people will think it came right from a French Bakery! by cookingwithruthie.com

Experience our French Tarte Au Citron Recipe & some of these too!

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe (Lemon Tart) is so impressive people will think it came right from a French Bakery! by cookingwithruthie.com

I love this pastry shop in Paris. . . 

French Tarte Au Citron (Lemon Tart) on www.cookingwithruthie.com is so impressive people will think it came from a bakery!

Yield: 8

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe

French Tarte Au Citron (Lemon Tart) on www.cookingwithruthie.com is so impressive people will think it came from a bakery!

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe (Lemon Tart) is so impressive people will think it came right from a French Bakery!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • Lemon Tart Filling:
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, appox 3 lemons
  • 1/4 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream
  • Sweet Tart Dough (French Pâte Brisée Sucrée):
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 8 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 3 tablespoons shortening, chilled and cut into small pieces
  • 5 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Prepared crust -French Pâte Brisée Sucrée, blind baked as directed.
  3. While tart dough is baking make filling:
  4. In a large mixing bowl whisk eggs, egg yolks, and sugar; mix until smooth.
  5. Add lemon juice; mix well.
  6. Add creme fraiche or heavy cream; mix.
  7. Slowly whisk in melted butter until smooth.
  8. Place baking sheet on rack in oven, then place blind baked crust on a baking sheet (for ease in moving and to catch any spillage.)
  9. Pour filling into crust, and carefully adjust in the center of the oven, bake 20-25 minutes or until filling is set.
  10. Cool on rack for 2 hours before chilling in fridge.
  11. Serve with additional sweetened Creme Fraiche or whipped cream.
  12. Enjoy!

Sweet Tart Dough (French Pâte Brisée Sucrée):
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sea salt, and sugar; mix to combine.

Cut in butter 5-6 pieces at a time with a pastry cutter or by using two knifes, add shortening in the same way; will resemble coarse meal.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon water over dough and mix with pastry cutter.

Repeat until all water is incorporated and dough just begins to come together.

Lightly dust counter with flour, turn out dough, and gently knead 2-3 times until it forms a ball.

Flatten the dough to a 1/2-inch thick disk.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Remove dough from plastic wrap, sprinkle both sides with flour and roll into a circle approximately 1/8-inch thick and 2-inches larger than the diameter of the pan.

Carefully lay the rolled-out dough over the a rolling pin and position in the center of an 8-11 inch tart pan, gently fit to pan without stretching the dough.

Fold the excess dough over the inside edge of the pan so the sides are slightly thicker, press the dough up and over the the rip of the pan, run rolling pin over the top of the pan to trim off excess dough.

Place the pan in the fridge and chill for 1 hour before filling and baking or baking blind.

To blind bake: pick bottom of chilled unbaked tart shell, pick approx 1/2 inch apart.

Line dough a sheet of aluminum foil and press to edges, fill with an even layer of dried beans or pie weights.

Bake 400 degrees F for 8 minutes, carefully remove foil with beans or weights.

Make some additional pricks with fork and bake 5-7 minutes more or until crust is lightly browned.

Remove from oven and cool to room temperature then fill.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 385Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 162mgSodium: 178mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 2gSugar: 16gProtein: 7g

French Tarte Au Citron Recipe (Lemon Tart) is so impressive people will think it came right from a French Bakery! by cookingwithruthie.com

Sit down with us and enjoy a slice of today’s French Tarte Au Citron Recipe!

We love to hear about your magical cooking moments. If you get a chance to make our recipes then leave us a comment or tag us on Instagram @cookingwithruthie, pin us on Pinterest, or follow along with us on Facebook so we can share in the joy of cooking with you! Please reach out if you have questions or comments via our email: ruthie@cookingwithruthie.com. We’re excited to see you again soon!  

One more thing before you go…

We love creating recipes and sharing our adventures with you, so if you can do us a huge favor it’d really support us! It’s easier to stay motivated to share our best with you when we hear from you!! We adore our readers and it really makes our day to get comments, social tags/shares, or pins that you save for later to share with your family and friends! Our hearts sing when you do. We SEE you and we do our very best to respond to all the love! It also amps up our mo-jo so we get lots of awesome things done around here.   

Cooking with Ruthie on Instagram

Cooking with Ruthie on Pinterest

Cooking with Ruthie on Facebook

Thanks for sharing in the CWR blog-love!

Love Always,

Ruthie & Madeliene 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Skip to Recipe