Whole Meyer Lemon Tart

If you are like me and you don't like your desserts too sweet, this is a good recipe for you. It uses an entire Meyer lemon (skin, pith, fruit, and juice) and is very easy to make. The finished pie does have a slightly bitter finish at the back of the mouth, but it's not that bad. The recipe comes from smittenkitchen.com; here is the link.

Ingredients:
1 average-sized Meyer lemon (about 4 1/2 ounces), rinsed and dried. The blog author notes that Meyer lemons are the first choice here because they're milder and have thinner skin. (Adrienne's note: I actually did weigh the Meyer lemon on my husband's postage scale to see how much of them I'd need for 4 1/2 ounces. I needed 1 1/2 Meyer lemons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 large eggs
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp table salt

Directions:
Adrienne's note: Instead of making my own pie crust according to this recipe, I used a pre-made pie dough blind-baked for half the time that the directions called for, then baked with the lemon filling in it.

Slice the lemon into thin wheels, remove any seeds, and toss the rounds-- lemon flesh and peel-- sugar and chunks of butter into the container of a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides of the container as needed, until the lemon is thoroughly pureed. Add the eggs, cornstarch and salt and pulse until the batter is smooth.

Pour into prepared tart shell. It will fill it completely but if due to slight variances in tart pans, egg sizes, lemon sizes, or crust thickness, you have too much, do not pour it past the top of your crust or it will become difficult to unmold later.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (Adrienne's note: mine was done ~ 28 minutes) or until the filling is set. You can test this by bumping the pan a little; it should only jiggle slightly. In my oven, I find that the point at which the filling is set is also when it starts to get very light brown on top.

Let cool on rack, unmold tart pan and serve. I actually prefer this tart completely chilled, which makes it a great dessert to make in advance of a dinner or party.

Adrienne's note: This pie is a little hard to cut and serve without messing up. Therefore, I use the "concealer" of the baking world-- confectioner's sugar-- to hide my little mess-ups.