Vegan Lemon Tart
Lemon tart is a French traditional tart recipe that used to be served to the King in the 19th century. It was invented in Philadelphia by Elizabeth Goodwell, an American pastry chef. If topped with a meringue (invented by a French chef, François Massialot, in the 17th century), it becomes a lemon meringue tart, the perfect combination of crunch, zing and air. Truly a favorite of Lean Lifestyle. The main specificity of this tart is that it actually does not contain any fruits. Instead, it contains a lemon flavored egg cream... and here Lean Lifestyle is presenting you a vegan version of it!
This recipe is a lot of fun along with an outstanding result. And what a pleasure you will feel when your guests are totally amazed when you reveal to them that you used neither egg nor milk. In addition of being an awesome pastry, this lemon tart will bring you a lot of nutrients that will help you go through your day. The acidity of the lemon will also facilitate your digestion making this tart a perfect final dish for a meal on the heavier side. Finally, this recipe is a multi-step one. Start early. Most of the components of the tart can be refrigerated separately before being assembled together. This will give you some flexibility when preparing this Vegan Lemon Tart.
No Egg | No refined Sugar | No Dairy| We hope you will love it, we do :)
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*** The ingredients are given for one 10-inch lemon tart ***
INGREDIENTS
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For the crust
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340g wheat flour
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100g liquid sweetener
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100g of oil
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For the cream filling
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400g vegan milk
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80g liquid sweetener
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40g of tapioca or corn starch
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1 tsp agar agar powder
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2 lemons, cleaned, zested and juiced
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1 tsp ground turmeric
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For the meringue topping
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3/4 cup aquafaba
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3/4 tsp cream of tartar
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1 1/4 cups of unrefined sugar
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1/2 cup water
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1 tsp agar-agar powder
DIRECTIONS
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Before all, start by preparing in advance the amount of aquafaba that you will need for this recipe. You can find Lean Lifestyle recipe for aquafaba on this page.
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Making The Crust
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In a big bowl (or a food processor), add all the ingredients for the crust. We used for the liquid sweetener maple syrup and for the oil, unrefined coconut oil. This last one brought a nice coconut flavor to the tart. Experiment with what you have.
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Mix the ingredients together until you get a homogeneous, crumbly dough. Gather the dough in one dough ball.
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In a tart pan (lined with parchment paper if not non-stick), press in the dough ball with your hands until you have it spread homogeneously over the whole pan (bottom and edges). Do not hesitate to spend as much time as needed on this step so that you have a beautiful tart crust ready to bake.
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Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Bake the tart crust at this temperature for 20 minutes. Let the crust cool down out of the oven. If making this recipe in steps, film tightly the crust once cooled down and keep in the fridge until it is used.
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The Lemon Cream Filling
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In a heavy bottom sauce pan, add all the ingredients for the lemon cream filling. Zest the lemons and add their juice in the saucepan. We used as a liquid sweetener maple syrup. For the vegan milk, we chose soy milk and we used corn starch.
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Whisk the mix until it gets homogeneous and starts heating the saucepan on medium/high.
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Continue to heat while constantly stirring (or ideally whisking) until the cream thickens enough.
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Pour the cream inside the tart crust, flattening it with a spatula.
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If you are not a meringue lover, you can stop at this stage and enjoy your Vegan Lemon Tart! Before eating it, store it in the fridge for at least 2 hours so that it gets cold and the agar agar powder has fully seized.
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The Meringue
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For the sugar, we used a combination of palm sugar (1/4 cup) for the strong taste it brings along with 1 cup of unrefined cane sugar. If the grain of your sugar is too big, do not hesitate to blend it to reduce it in a finer powder. Note that the meringue is optional and brings a huge amount of sugar to this dish (unbalancing the nutritional balance of the tart) therefore, consider from time to time going meringue-free.
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In your biggest bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), add the aquafaba and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Using a whisk, whip the whole to homogenize it. Using a hand mixer (or your stand mixer), whip the mix until the aquafaba can hold firm peaks (takes around 10 minutes usually).
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Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the mix gradually while continuing to whip. Continue whipping the meringue until it can hold stiff peaks.
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Time to prepare the sugar syrup. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan add the water and the agar agar powder. Let it rest for a few minutes so that the agar agar starts disolving. Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar and the remaining 1 cup of sugar. On medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously so that all the sugar disolves. Once all the sugar is disolved, reduce the heat to medium, cover the saucepan with a lid and let it cook for three more minutes. Remove the lid, put a candy thermometer in the saucepan and continue cooking the syrup until its internal temperature reaches 260°F. Once the temperature reached, take the saucepan out of the fire and let the syrup cool down for a few minutes.
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Once both the meringue and the sugar syrup are ready, start back your hand mixer and start adding to the meringue the sugar syrup slowly, being careful to not touch any cold surface such as the whisk or the bowl (as the syrup would harden and not disolves in the meringue anymore). Once all the sugar syrup has been added, whip the meringue for at least 4 minutes until the meringue has cooled down and starts back holding stiff peaks. Your Italian vegan meringue is ready!
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Using a spatula, spread all the meringue over the lemon tart. Let the tart cool down in the fridge overnight. The next day either torch it or broil it so that you caramelize the outer layer of the meringue. Your Vegan Meringue Lemon Tart is ready!
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*** That's it...Easy...Quick...Guilt-Free...Vegan Food***
