A Tart to Celebrate Springtime
a lemony, citrusy tart with an all-spelt crust & coffee reduction
It’s spring break week (in NYC at least) and the crossover week between Passover and Easter. A time of year, give or take a few weeks, where many religions and cultures celebrate the rebirth and the flowering of springtime. Yet somehow, a more wintry-ingredient, the humble lemon (along with adjacent citrus fruit), seems to be a flavor associated with Easter-time and the onset of spring. And so here we are.
I’ve loved citrus, and most all things acidic, for as long as I can remember, (known to eat raw lemon slices when I was just a babe; also known to request lemon tarts instead of birthday cakes in my youth). My heart will always lean in towards lemony, citrus tarts, so I’ll veer off true hyper-seasonality for this singular post because this is a tart that should be documented (even if you just tag it for next winter’s citrus season). I should note that the base custard recipe I’ve used here is a riff off of Hannah Ziskin’s gorgeous grapefruit pie. If you’re out in LA, Hannah’s cakes and desserts are ethereal and so is the pizza at the spot she co-owns with her husband, Quarter Sheets.
There are few factors going on here that really urged me to write about this tart.
*The crust: Normally I would make a graham cracker crust for something like this (think lemon bars, key lime pie etc). I make my own graham crackers (super easy and delicious), but I didn’t have graham flour around. So instead, I swapped in spelt flour for the cookies, which are then blitzed into crumbs to form the crust. The locally-sourced spelt flour is from the about-to-open Brooklyn Granary & Mill, and it’s just gorgeous. Nutty, deep, earthy notes make for a nice contrast to a mix of bright citrus notes.
*The sugar in the crust: I was low on regular sugar, so I swapped in coconut sugar and wow. Definitely will be doing this again. It’s so fragrant, caramely-coconutty, sultry and you could argue slightly more healthful as a more unrefined sweetener.
*I love the pairing of coffee and lemon/citrus. Take some leftover coffee and reduce it down with a bit of sugar, splash of apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt (like a 4 : 1 : .2 ratio coffee : sugar : acv). The result will be a syrup, oozy glaze to drizzle alongside a thin slice.
*The last component, salty whipped cream with a spike of labneh (strained yogurt), for balance and tang.
The full recipe follows, but given that I am *technically * not supposed to be eating anything risen this week, here’s a VERY nice alternate flourless chocolate cake option if you’re observing Passover this week. Happy springing… :)
Mixed Citrus Tart with Labneh Whip & Coffee Reduction
Makes 1 9” tart
Spelt-Coconut Sugar Cookie —> Crumble For the Crust
185g spelt flour (if you’re local to NYC, check out Brooklyn Granary & Mill!)
105g coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamom
55g unsalted butter, cold & cubed
40g whole milk
55g wildflower honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla powder or paste
Using a stand mixer / Kitchen-aid, mix the flour, coconut sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and butter together with a paddle attachment. Add in milk, honey and vanilla. Press the dough ball into a rectangle, dust it generously with flour on both sides and roll it out between 2 pieces of parchment paper until quite thin (you want it pretty thin so it will bake up nice and crispy to then be blitzed into crumbs in a food processor. Cut the large rectangular slab into 4 smaller rectangles or what shape you feel like (this will help it to crisp all over evenly when baking). Place the rectangles on a baking sheet prepared with parchment and baking spray.
Bake at 325F / 165C about 12-15 minutes rotating halfway through. Check for doneness, bake a bit longer if necessary. Allow to cool. Break into smaller pieces and blitz into crumbs using a food processor.
Now make the tart crust.
Spelt-Coconut Sugar Tart Crust
225-250g (about 1 1/2 cups) spelt cookie crumbs (from above steps)
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt / sea salt
56g (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Mix all ingredients together and press in a 9” tart pan prepared with baking spray, pressing up the sides of the pan evenly.
Blind bake the crust, uncovered, at 325F / 165C about 12-18 minutes until golden brown.
While the crust is baking, make the citrus custard.
Citrus Custard
7 egg yolks
zest of 2-4 pieces of mixed citrus (depending on size) - here I’ve used the zest of 1 pomelo, 1 grapefruit and 1 lemon
700g (2 1/4 cups) condensed milk (a little less than 2 cans)
240ml (1 cup) mixed citrus juice of your choosing (grapefruit, pomelo, lime)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt / sea salt
1/2 teaspoon citric acid *can be found online and in baking / specialty shops - creates a nice tangy tingle on your tongue and brings out the citrus notes
In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and citrus zest to bring out the essential oils in the zest. Add in the condensed milk. Then add in citrus juices, whisking well. Finally, add in salt and citric acid.
Pour the citrus custard into the baked tart shell and bump the oven to 350F / 175C. Bake for 30-40 minutes until completely set. The filling should jiggle in the center just slightly, but not be liquidy. Cool and then refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
Salty Whipped Labneh
230ml heavy cream
80g labneh
16g sugar (2 teaspoons)
4g kosher salt / sea salt (1/2 teaspoon)
Whip together until stable peaks form.
Coffee Reduction
250ml coffee
65g sugar
10ml apple cider vinegar
pinch of kosher salt / sea salt
Combine all and simmer over low heat until reduced by 1/2 or so.
Serve thin tart slices with segments of grapefruit and/or pomelo (if desired / available) or a bit of lemon zest, a dollop of whipped labneh and drizzle of coffee reduction.
