Lemon & Raspberry Tart with Almond Crust

This is a guest post by Naomi of Bakers Royale. Welcome Naomi!

For as long as I can remember, the kitchen has been my favorite place. Baking up sweet treats has always been something soothing and calming for me. Don’t get me wrong, there are crazy days when nothing I’m making or testing turns out right. Then there are days when I can’t remember if I added ¼ or ½ cup of something to a batter.

Those are the days that I have to remind myself to take a deep breath. Relax. Baking and cooking are an act of sharing and nurturing others and not an act of culinary acrobatics. It’s this sentiment that Aimée does so well in fostering here at Simple Bites. That said, I’m excited to be here as a guest and share a deliciously simple Valentine’s dessert.

This dessert is your classic lemon tart with a few tweaks. It’s easy to make and full of bright, fruity flavors. To keep things on the lighter side, I traded out a traditional tart crust for a graham cracker crust and threw in some crushed almonds for an added kick in flavor.

To assemble the tart filling, I used homemade lemon curd, but you can certainly buy lemon curd to cut down on the time. For an added twist, I layered the tart with some raspberry purée to give it some added punch and depth of flavor. This turned out to be even better since it lent itself to being a fine backdrop for adding a decorative Valentine’s touch.

Photo by Naomi

Lemon Raspberry Tarts

Yields: 6 4-inch individual tartelettes or one 10-inch tart pan.

Almond Graham Cracker Crust

  • 20 graham crackers or 1 ¾ cups of graham cracker crumbs
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ cup almond slivers, toasted
  • 7 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Place graham crackers and almond slivers in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin until finely crushed. Alternatively place ingredients in a bowl and process until finely crushed.
  3. Place graham cracker and almond crumbs, sugar and melted butter into a bowl and mix to combine.
  4. Pour crumb/crust mixture into a 10-inch tart pan and press firmly down and all around the side wall edge until it is ¼ inch thick.
  5. Bake tart crust for about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Raspberry Purée

  • 1 ½ cups fresh raspberries or 1 cup frozen berries*

Instructions:

  1. Place raspberries in a food processor or blender and process until raspberries are puréed.
  2. Pour and push raspberry mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds.

Photo by Naomi

Lemon Curd

Head HERE to get the recipe and step-by-step instructions for homemade lemon curd, or use purchased lemon curd as suggested above.

Assembly

  1. Fill pre-baked and cooled tart shells with raspberry purée until the bottom is covered with 1/8 inch of purée.
  2. Start in the middle of the tart and spoon lemon curd onto the raspberry purée, letting a ring of raspberry puree form around the lemon curd.
  3. Use a toothpick and lightly drag small sweeping lines from the raspberry purée into the lemon curd.
  4. Chill until ready to serve. The tarts can be fully assembled 4 hours in advance.

A few notes

1. Pans: You can use any size tart pan that suits you. I used four 6-inch individual tart pans as well as six 1-½ inch tartlets.

2. Do Ahead:

  • The crust can be made two days in advance and kept in a tightly sealed container and refrigerated.
  • The curd and raspberry purée can be prepared up to 7 days in advance and kept refrigerated as well.

3. Shortcut: Use fresh raspberries instead of making raspberry purée. Make sure to cut them in half  so that the lemon curd will easily cover them.

Tarts are highly adaptable, so you can fill them with just about anything. You can easily change out any of the components to suit your preference. Whatever you do or however you build your tart, have a fantastic day celebrating those you love on Valentine’s day.

Citrus or Chocolate? What is your preference?

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36 Comments

  1. I got totally distracted by the Fusionwood knife in the first picture…want. Then I got distracted dreaming of raspberries and lemon curd. Also want. Gorgeous, Naomi!

  2. This looks absolutely delicious! I never make anything delicate like this. I’m starring this in my google reader, and hopefully I’ll get up the courage to try it.

  3. This looks lovely, and I think my husband and I are going to make it tomorrow. I have a question, though: I see the almonds in the list of ingredients, but not in the instructions. Maybe I’m just not seeing it, but can you say (again) how they fit into the crust?

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