LEMON TART

Okay so they began as lemon bars...

 ...and then I felt like bars were too simple. Too EASY. Anyone could make a bar! This is EASTER! I have to make this a showstopper!

So I just used the same recipe and put them in a different pan...and BAM. Honestly, it just felt more like a complete, holiday dessert than a backyard treat for the kiddos. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but when someone pulls out a circular glory treat out of the ole kitchen, I'm all in. 

Long story short. Happy Easter! We had a simple dinner, so I wanted something light that would compliment that as well. We have massive citrus trees that have a lot of fruit in the winter/spring, so our lemon tree was just begging to be plucked for this very day. I made them a few months ago with oranges, which were incredible; they were definitely more sweet than tart, but I'm super interested in making them with grapefruit to get that rich pink color....will update...if there are updates, if that ever happens.

Anywho, as some of you know, I just completed Whole30, so I decided to make a normal (dairy-free) lemon tart for everyone and a gluten-free, refined sugar-free one for myself. Ultimately, the GF/DF one came out more like a lemon-coconut caramel tart but, hey, we live and we learn and I still ate half of it, so that's success if I ever saw one. 

I'll put up both recipes if you're interested, but fair warning, the GF/DF tart will come out brown only because the coconut sugar is brown, so the yellow of the lemon does not shine through as much as with the white flour and white sugar combo. I'm adding a picture of the GF/DF one to the VERY BOTTOM because it's not as pretty as the one with normal flour, but #realtalk it was still bomb.

Note to reader: I'm aware that it is Easter, so I'm sorry I did not make a "rising dessert" to fit the occasion.

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INGREDIENTS

Crust:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 sticks of butter (I use Earth Balance, which is dairy-free and awesome for baking)

Lemon:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• Zest and juice of 4 lemons
• 4 eggs
• *Top with powdered sugar

*To make gluten-free/refined sugar-free, substitute:

• Flour 1:1 for blanched almond flour
• Sugar 1:1 for coconut sugar (yes, it will make your mixture brown)
• Butter 1:1 for solid coconut oil (definitely will make it more of a coconutty/lemon bar)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Prep the crust! Mix flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl before adding the butter (or coconut oil). 
3. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, break up the chunks of butter or solidified coconut oil into the dry mixture, ensuring that they are all pea-size or smaller for even baking. 
4. Grease a 8x10 rectangle pan or a 9 in. tart pan with butter or oil, and press pastry dough into the bottom to form a nice shortbread crust.
5. Pop that baby in the oven for 20 minutes, and begin prepping your filling!
6. In a small bowl, whisk eggs and put aside. 
7. Zest and juice lemons into a medium bowl, then slowly whisk in the eggs. Once that is mixed evenly, add the flour and sugar and blend until dissolved.
8. By this time, your crust will be ready, so pull it out of the oven and pour your filling in immediately. 
9. Put the pan right back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
10. Once they are done, put them out to cool or into the fridge for at least two hours. Once you are ready to serve them, sift powdered sugar on top and serve with fresh fruit!
11. Devour.

Here is the GF/DF lemon tart....the coconut sugar made it brown. If you have suggestions, lmk.