Let’s consider the lemon. Ahhhhhhh. Bright yellow. Sour. Tart. Sublime.
Lemons were first seriously cultivated in Italy in the 15th century. How they came to Italy I’m not really sure, Asia?
But this is the important part. Somewhere between then and now the French got hold of them, and started cooking with lemons. And, more to the point, baking with that bright yellow fruit.
And you know what the French are about. Intensification of flavor. Nuance. Balance. Excellence.
Food that lights up all corners of your mouth.
On one of the final episodes of Curb (before the hiatus) Larry David is filmed standing on a street in Paris talking into his cell. He says something like: ‘Here I am surrounded by the best cooking in the world…’
I’m here to tell you he’s right.
Over the top
Make no mistake, this dessert is for those who like sourball candy.
It’s not going to be for everybody.
When I sample a lemon curd dessert I want the lemon part to be sour sour sour. Then balanced by a meringue or a sauce that allows both sweet and sour to come through at the same time.
This is what gets the salivary glands working, lights up your mouth, and makes you want to take bite after bite.
As Sulu would say, Oh my……
Achieving the balance
We’re going to bump up the lemon curd with extra lemons and lemon zest, and probably throw some zest into the batter mix. It’s going to be obnoxious. There’ll be lemon curd swirled into the batter and a layer of lemon curd on top.
We’ll cut this with an almond shortbread crust, a layer of sour cream topping and a blueberry sauce when serving.
Sweet and sour.
Balance.
Flavors working:
Lemon, blueberry, almond.
The importance of the swipe
For those of you with OCD this will be a welcome strategy.
When you’re ready to eat a piece of this cheesecake, when it’s got the lemon curd on top and the blueberry topping…make sure to get all the ingredients on your fork with one swipe.
Straight down through the blueberry preserves, the lemon curd, the sour cream layer, the lemon-swirled filling, all the way down to the almond shortbread crust…
…remember chef Adam from Northern Exposure? “The egg yolk, mixing with the salmon in my mouth“….it’s like that. You want all the flavors to mix together, you’ll need the blueberry, the sour cream, the crust to help balance that puckery lemon curd.
So swipe straight down.
Please.
Corona virus update
I went to the store to do this recipe and…no lemons. Just one or two that had jumped ship into the lime section and one that was down with the rutabagas. And I had to move sharp to get those, I can tell you.
And there was a lonely wind blowing through the egg shelves. Zero.
But I did have a couple of lemons at home, enough eggs for the batter, and ….two jars of Bonne Maman lemon curd (available at Walmart).
Bingo.
I made this lemon lemon tart cheesecake with one jar of lemon curd for the batter and one jar for the top layer. I mixed the zest of two lemons into each jar, and the results still weren’t as tart as desired.
I’m uncertain, but am thinking the zest of three, maybe four lemons mixed in each jar to make the effect really stellar.
Also the Bonne Maman curd is runny, as you’ll see in the photos. The made-from-scratch curd holds together much better.
Go to recipe card if you’re a seasoned cheesecake baker.
Or…….watch the YouTube video
Equipment list:
rolling pin
oven thermometer
half hotel pan or standard cookie sheet pan
9” Fat Daddio two piece cheesecake pan
parchment paper
Baker’s Joy
measuring spoons
digital scale
Pyrex custard cups or small bowls
paddle attachment
cooling rack
big sharp knife
small thin-bladed sharp knife
chopstick
teflon spatula
cutting board
zester or micro grater
big double boiler with glass (Pyrex) insert
quart saucepan
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup conf sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
small pinch salt
Batter
2 bricks Philly
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup conf sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 pinch salt
Lemon curd: (This is for two batches of curd)
Juice of 14 lemons
10 egg yolks
1.5 cups sugar
Zest of four lemons
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, softened
Sour cream top layer:
1 pint sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Garnish:
1 or 2 jars of Bonne Maman blueberry preserves.
Powdered sugar
Crust prep for the lemon lemon tart cheesecake:
Place the metal disc inside the Fat Daddio, then place a 9″ circle of parchment paper on top of the metal disk. Bakers Joy the inside of the whole thing.
Oven at 350.
In a stand mixer with paddle attachment combine the flour, conf sugar and butter.
Or…in a big mixing bowl combine the ingredients by hand until there are no lumps. It doesn’t take long.
Press the dough into the bottom of the Fat Daddio, distribute evenly. Don’t go up the sides.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
Set aside and let cool before adding the cheesecake batter.
Don’t forget to drop the oven to 325.
Make the curd
Divide the above values in half for the first batch.
Combine the egg yolks, sugar, butter, lemon juice and zest in the glass top of the double boiler (use half the amounts listed in the ingredients section).
Remember, the water in the bottom of the double boiler should be at a bare simmer or just below: you don’t want that water to boil.
Stir gently and often (wooden or teflon mixing spoon) until the mixture won’t drip off the spoon.
And…voila! It’s lemon curd.
Take the glass bowl off the pan and let it sit somewhere, don’t let it get too cool.
Make the batter
The filling ingredients should all be at room temperature, the eggs…everything.
Break the eggs into individual Pyrex custard cups and put the sour cream and whipping cream into small shallow bowls so they’ll slide easily into the big mixer.
Sift the confectioners sugar, flour and salt together into a mixing bowl.
Wets are going first, drys are going last, so line them up that way.
Mixing
Start by doing the bricks at slow-medium speed until smooth, but don’t whip too much or too long.
Add an egg, blend it in until you can’t see yellow streaks, then add the other, same thing. Remember, the slower mixer speed the better, we don’t want to whip a bunch of air into the batter.
Add the heavy cream and vanilla, incorporate, add the sour cream, incorporate.
Stop the mixer and spatula down the walls, mix some more.
Blend in the the flour and confectioners and pinch salt and mix until just incorporated.
Assemble and bake the lemon lemon tart cheesecake
Stir the batter a bit and look sharp for lumps. If you see any, get a large-mesh strainer and strain all the batter into another mixing bowl.
Pour enough batter into the pan to cover the crust to about 1 inch.
Distribute half the curd on top of the batter and gently thread the curd through the batter with the chopstick.
Repeat with the rest of the curd and batter.
Put the Fat Daddio onto the hotel pan and into the 325 oven for 45 minutes.
Without opening the door, shut off the oven and let the whole thing sit for 40 minutes.
Remove to a cooling rack and immediately run a thin sharp knife around the inside edge of the pan to free the cheesecake and prevent cracks.
Put the cheesecake aside but don’t let it cool down.
Sour cream topping
Turn the oven back on and bump to 350.
Combine the sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl.
Using the offset spatula, spread the mixture evenly on the cheesecake.
Bake 5 minutes, remove to cooling rack.
Run the thin sharp knife around again.
Cooling and refrigerating
Let the cheesecake cool on the rack until room temperature. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and refrigerate, preferably overnight.
Make the second lemon curd
See the steps above, use the remaining half of the ingredients….
Spread the lemon curd around the top of the chilled cheesecake with the offset spatula.
De-gloving the lemon lemon tart cheesecake
Center the Fat Daddio on an inverted medium bowl.
Gently press down, working evenly around the edge of the pan with both hands, until the lemon lemon tart cheesecake is free.
That’s right, the lemon lemon tart cheesecake is….alive.
And is it gonna taste great!
Move the lemon lemon tart cheesecake onto a 10″ cardboard round
Put the cheesecake on the cardboard, then, using a big offset spatula, work all the way around until you feel the cheesecake is free, then gently slide the paper and disc out from underneath. Make sure you’ve gotten in between the bottom of the cheesecake and the parchment paper.
Let’s talk about toppings for a minute…
The simplest is to serve each slice with a generous dollop of room temp Bonne Maman blueberry preserves.
Or you can go off-road.
All the blueberry toppings recipes I looked at are very similar….fresh blueberries (or frozen), sugar, water, lemon juice, cornstarch. OK, there’s a starting point. Maybe throw a teaspoon of orange zest in there too.
So this time let’s stay simple:
4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Zest of one orange
Juice of one lemon
Over medium heat bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally.
Garnish
Whichever blueberry method you choose, cut slices of the lemon lemon tart cheesecake with a big sharp knife, wiping the blade between each cut.
Garnish each piece with the blueberry sauce.
Don’t forget the powdered sugar.
Whoa.
Pairings:
Late harvest riesling. Eiswein. Ice cold water. Coffee. Darjeeling tea. Oaked dry chardonnay. Unoaked sauvignon blanc. Merlot.
Links:
Lemon lemon tart YouTube video
9×3 Fat Daddios 2-piece cheesecake pan
What To Drink With What You Eat
Enjoy!
