For my firstborn this lovely dessert will mark her 25th birthday. I’m calling this one my Dirty Little Tart…. Go ahead and read into that… I got her permission.
I think of it as dirty because most lemon tarts I’ve seen come with a pastry crust or some other kind of crust that is clean and white. When you pour the filling into the oreo cookie crust the crumbs mix into it and make it look dirty. But my little pussycat likes lemon and dark chocolate so when she requested something lemony for her birthday dessert I just had to make the chocolate crust to compliment the lemon filling… topped with raspberries and shaved chocolate it looks pretty and festive. I couldn’t help myself.
So yes, I cheated a bit with the crust and used a chocolate cookie crumb with melted butter and pressed into the tart pan. Then I actually ended up using two rounds of lemon curd. The first one looked really dirty and just didn’t seem to fill it enough… so I added a second to clean and fill it up… chocolate on top of lemon on top of chocolate… with raspberries doesn’t seem like a bad thing.
I used the Oreo cookie crust, 1 ½ Cups of crumbs with ½ Cup butter and pressed into a tart pan. Par-bake for about 10 minutes.
Then for the filling… which is really yummy….
- Juice of 4 large lemons (3/4 cup fresh lemon juice) and zest
- ½ (or less) cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small parts
Using a double boiler, combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a metal or glass heat-resistant bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl over the simmering water, without letting the bottom touch, and continue to whisk. Whisk until the curd has doubled in volume and is very thick and yellow. Don’t let it boil. Remove the bowl from heat and whisk in the butter, a couple of chunks at a time, until melted. Let cool until it begins to set and once it is cooled carefully pour into the baked chocolate cookie crust. Refrigerate. Just before you are ready to serve top with fresh raspberries (or other berry) and grate chocolate.
Happy Birthday “T”
