LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Nothing says spring more than a bright and light lemon tart dessert


Main component of Lemon Cookie Crust Photo Susie Iventosch

Lemons make the perfect spring dessert, especially when you add a few colorful, fresh berries and edible flowers on top. This tart filling is made with lemon curd and nonfat plain Greek yogurt to give it a creamy and airy texture, and it's lighter in the calorie department, too. We could mix it with whipped cream, but what the heck . it's almost bikini season! The crust is made of crushed lemon cream sandwich cookies . think Oreo cookie crust, but lemon.

When making a tart, one of the big decisions is what kind of crust you want. You can always go with a traditional crumbly and buttery shortbread tart crust, or you can make a flourless crust with almond meal, almonds or even pecans. Or, you can use crushed lemon cookies like this recipe. I used Dare's lemon cream sandwich cookies, but if you can't find that brand, don't worry. There are usually plenty of lemon cookie options at most grocery stores.

I like to use lemon cream sandwich cookies, because the filling helps hold the crust together, but if you have trouble finding them, just use lemon shortbread or any crispy lemon cookie you can find, or make your own. If you use cookies that don't have the cream filling in the center, you may need to use an extra bit of melted butter to make the crust stick together as you press it into the pan. Just test a little bit to see if it holds together and if not, add the extra butter a little bit at a time.

I like to use Greek yogurt for this recipe, because it has generally been strained and is thick - almost solid - which is much better for this recipe. Some yogurts are very runny, and that would make the filling too thin.

For the garnishes, just pick your favorite seasonal berries, and if you can find edible flowers, they add a nice touch.

INGREDIENTS

Lemon Tart on Lemon Cookie Crust

(Serves 6-8)

Crust

2 cups processed lemon cookie crumbs

3 tbsp. melted butter

Filling

6 large eggs

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp. salted butter

2 tsp. lemon zest

3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt (be sure to use a strained yogurt, which most Greek yogurt is)

Garnishes:

1 lemon, thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries)

6-8 edible flowers

DIRECTIONS

Crust

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a 9.5-inch tart pan (with a removable bottom) by thoroughly coating the sides and bottom with a thin coat of butter. Be sure to get the butter into the side grooves of the pan. Sometimes it's easiest to use your fingers to do this. This will help you to remove the tart from the pan when you're ready to serve dessert. Set aside.

Process lemon cookies until fine crumbs. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in melted butter. Mix well.

Dump this mixture into the prepared pan and pat it to evenly cover the bottom and into the sides of the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Filling (lemon curd plus yogurt)

Whisk eggs and sugar together in a saucepan or in the top of a double boiler. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until mixture thickens so it will coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Set aside until completely cool. If making ahead of time, cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cooking the curd slowly helps to minimize lumps forming in your curd, but if you see lumps of egg in your curd, you can simply strain it through a sieve when you remove it from the heat. Push the curd through the sieve using a spoon or rubber spatula. Be sure to scrape the curd that's left on the bottom of the sieve into your bowl of strained curd. Then cool completely and cover until ready to use. The lemon zest will make it through the sieve, but the lumps will stay in the sieve.

When you are ready to make the filling, gently fold the yogurt into the chilled lemon curd. Pour into prepared crust and smooth out with an off-set spatula. Chill the tart for at least 20 minutes before garnishing.

Garnish with lemon slices, berries and flowers. Chill until ready to serve.