lemon cream tart - passover dessert II

as i posted in my previous post i baked two cakes that can be served on passover night. my second cake is lemon cream tart. i found the recipe for the lemon cream from dorie greenspan’s blog and the tart is a regular tart recipe but i substitute the flour with matzo meal. few tips; matzo meal is not finely grounded, and so i had to put mine in the food processor for few minutes in order to grind it more. another thing, when you bake the tart, bake it till it gets a light golden color, because if you bake it for too long the tart will get too hard and a bit burnt.
for the lemon cream i have used mayer lemons as they are in season now and sweater than regular lemons. according to the recipe, while cooking the cream, you will need to whisk it until it reaches 180 degrees. for some reason i only managed to reaches 165 degrees, but according to dorie reaching 165-170 degrees is fine, and it surly was. the tart came out wonderful, refreshing and citrusy, a thing that i am sure will be appreciated after the heavy passover meal.

happy passover.

INGREDIENTS
For the tart:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups matzo meal finely grounded
1/8 tsp kosher salt

lemon cream:
1 cup sugar
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 4 to 5 lemons)
2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons (21 tablespoons; 10 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces

9” springform pan
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PREPARATION
tart:
preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease 9” springform pan.
cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
combine the matzo flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into the greased baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. chill for 20 minutes.
bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned.

lemon cream:
getting ready: have a thermometer, preferably an instant-read, a strainer and a blender (first choice) or food processor at the ready. bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
put the sugar and zest in a large metal bowl that can be fitted into the pan of simmering water. off heat, work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. whisk in the eggs followed by the lemon juice.
fit the bowl into the pan (make certain the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and cook, stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. you want to cook the cream until it reaches 180°f. as you whisk the cream over heat—and you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling—you’ll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as the cream is getting closer to 180°f, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. heads up at this point—the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. don’t stop whisking and don’t stop checking the temperature. and have patience—depending on how much heat you’re giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.
as soon as you reach 180°f, pull the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of a blender (or food processor); discard the zest. let the cream rest at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140°f, about 10 minutes.
turn the blender to high and, with the machine going, add about 5 pieces of butter at a time. scrape down the sides of the container as needed while you’re incorporating the butter. once the butter is in, keep the machine going—to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to beat the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.
pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and chill the cream for at least 4 hours or overnight. when you are ready to construct the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell.

serving:
The tart should be served cold, because it is a particular pleasure to have the cold cream melt in your mouth.

storing:
while you can make the lemon cream ahead (it will keep in the fridge for 4 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months), once the tart is constructed, it’s best to eat it the day it is made.