These lemon tarts were the best spur of the moment dessert one evening this past week! I cannot wait to try them again when I've gone shopping and picked up more lemons. The tarts were so refreshing and light and the best ending to any spring or summer dinner. Read on!
In my mission to become more "French", I've been trying a lot of recipes from my new favorite blog "French Foodie Baby" which I highly recommend to anyone, parent or no. I first became interested in the French way of parenting after reading Pamela Druckerman's "Bringing Up Bebe". I won't get into everything that interested me about the French ways, but one that I've been solid as a rock about is their love of food and how to teach that notion to their children. And this all begins with infancy! They have 4-course meals for lunch and dinner where the children sit and wait for each course like adults. Granted, mealtimes are at max 20 mins until they get a little older and aren't as fidgety. The 4-course meal teaches patience, delayed gratification, table manners, and above all it is about family time. Children eat what the adults eat. There are no "kid's food" or a different menu catering to what they want to eat. The adult chooses and the child chooses how much. I have always been against kid's menus at restaurants. What better way to create a picky eater than to cater to picky eaters? They don't like artichokes? Feed them artichokes. They don't like fish? Feed them fish. The point is not to force them to like something. The point is to share the taste and interest of food and flavor until they appreciate it. What I also love about the French is that they don't snack. That's right. Not even the kids. They get one snack about 4 hours before dinner called "Gouter" (goo-teh) that usually consists of fruit but sometimes can be a simple baguette with chocolate. Also a little tidbit, when you have something sweet everyday, you're less likely to gorge on it the first chance you get, thereby stuffing yourself, overeating, and craving chocolate every waking hour. This is it. When you don't snack all day, you're hungry for mealtime. Which also means we may be more willing to eat those vegetables. Ahhh now we understand! Those darn French, so smart!
So now that I have ranted for a bit, my point is coming. As baby R is growing older, I wonder how much she should be really eating. What does any mother with a question do? She googles it. But lo and behold most of the websites talking about how to feed your toddler are from the American standpoint. 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. Sound familiar? And what do these meals consist of? Pasta, rice cereal, crackers, peas, etc. Where's the interesting stuff? So one day, I googled "French feeding guide toddler" and the heavens opened up wide and delivered to me "French Foodie Baby". You can peruse this wonderful blog on your own, but Helene is the French mother I strive to be when it comes to feeding my babe. Pasta is on the backseat in most French recipes and daily eating. Front and center is dairy. Yogurt is at every meal. Cheese is at every meal. And I don't mean string cheese, it's more along the lines of goat gouda, brie, and camembert! So before I begin ranting once again, this wonderful lemon tart came from Helene's "French Foodie Baby" though unfortunately baby R didn't get any. We ate it all. Whoops.
The tarts were so simple to make excepting of course that I modified it to be gluten-free. With only one lemon used, these things were TART. These tarts were tart? Ha. But not overpowering. I think next time I might add some fresh whipped cream! You can find the original recipe at http://frenchfoodiebaby.blogspot.com/2012/11/french-lemon-tart-in-memoriam.html
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour or pastry flour
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup butter (and a little extra to butter the pan)
1/2 cup + 2 tblsp sugar
1 egg
Juice of one lemon
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Melt 1/3 cup of butter and set aside.
3. Mix the flour with 1/2 cup of butter (with hands preferably) or a stand mixer with paddle attachment. You can add 1-2 tblsp water to make it a little more workable, though I found I didn't need to.
4. Butter either a pan or I used 4 ramekins to make individual servings. Spread the dough on the bottom ensuring it is an even thickness.
5. In another bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg until white and foamy and then whisk in the melted 1/3 cup of butter and the lemon juice.
6. Pour the lemon mixture into the pans or ramekins and place in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. The lemon mixture will be slightly liquidy and gooey, but will set and condense after cooling and sitting a bit. And seriously, let it cool. The lemon mixture is molten lava.
Bon Appetit!
