French Meyer Lemon Tart with Thyme Sablé
Silky bright citrus curd in a tender, melt-in-mouth thyme butter pastry crust
A Parisian patisserie icon celebrating the fragrant balance of Meyer lemons. Paired with a delicate sweet sablé pastry crust infused with subtle herbal notes of fresh lemon thyme.
Serving Scaler
Ingredients (10)
0 / 10 preppedFor the Sablé Crust
For Lemon Curd
Prepare thyme sablé dough
In a food processor, pulse flour, powdered sugar, chopped thyme, and cold diced butter until sandy with pea-sized pieces. Pulse in egg yolk and 1 tbsp ice water until dough just clumps together. Shape into a disc, wrap, and chill 45 min.
Roll and blind-bake the crust
Roll chilled dough to 3mm thickness and fit into a 9-inch fluted tart pan. Prick base with fork. Line with parchment paper and pie weights. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes, remove weights, and bake 10 minutes more until pale gold.
Cook silky lemon curd
Whisk lemon juice, zest, granulated sugar, and eggs in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water (bain-marie). Whisk constantly until mixture thickens to a glossy pudding consistency (~82°C / 180°F, approx 10 minutes).
Constant whisking prevents eggs from scrambling around the edges of the bowl.
Emulsify butter into warm curd
Strain hot curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Let cool to 55°C (130°F), then use an immersion blender while adding soft butter piece by piece until pale and ultra-creamy.
Emulsifying at 55°C instead of boiling temperature creates a velvety mouthfeel that does not weep.
Fill tart shell and set
Pour curd into pre-baked tart shell, smoothing surface with an offset spatula. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before slicing with a hot dry knife.