Lemon & Ginger Crunch Tart

To see the New Year in, I hosted a bring and share supper night with my friends. I love hosting parties like this, it takes the pressure off hosting for everyone and means you can enjoy a selection of little bits of lots of different dishes. My friends pulled out all the stops and made sure everything they brought was also gluten free, which was a lovely gesture. We ended up with far too much food, but this creates the joy of leftovers for lunch the next day.

This lemon tart was my offering to the dessert selection. It’s one of my favourites, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about it before. It’s very quick and simple to put together but results in a dessert that’s a cross between cheesecake and tarte au citron. It uses only 5 ingredients, 2 for the base and 3 for the topping, yet tastes like you have slaved away for ages.

The lemon topping is made from sweetened condensed milk, double cream and lots of lemon. The acidity in the lemon juice reacts with the cream, causing it to thicken almost instantly as you mix it together, creating a thick and zingy mixture that sets into a soft yet sliceable topping after a short chill in the fridge. It’s creamy, sweet and also extremely zingy which makes for a very refreshing tart.

The base is made of ginger biscuits, which is a lovely flavour pairing and adds gentle warmth against the zesty lemon topping. If you can find stem ginger biscuits, it’s even better as the little chunks of stem ginger adds a nice occasional chewy bite to the base when you come across one. Crunchy ginger base and zingy lemon topping, so simple yet so delicious.

Lemon & Ginger Crunch Tart

Ingredients

200g gluten free stem ginger biscuits

40g butter

1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk

125ml double cream

Zest & juice of 2 lemons

Method

Line the base of an 8inch/20cm springform tin or tart tin with greaseproof paper.

Blitz ginger biscuits in a food processor until they are broken into crumbs.

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the ginger biscuits to the pan and mix well to combine. Press the mixture into the base of the tin and press down well. Transfer to the fridge to chill.

Finely grate the zest off the lemons and add to a bowl along with the condensed milk and cream. Add the juice from both lemons and whisk together using a handheld whisk until thick and creamy. It should start to thicken up almost instantly into a smooth pourable cream.

Pour the lemon mix over the biscuit base and return to the fridge to set, around 6 hours.

Garnish with a slice of lemon before serving.

Makes 1 x 8inch/20cm tart