Lemon Tarts get a fragrant upgrade with the addition of lavender oil to the lemon curd. Bouchon Bakery’s Pâte Sucrée tart dough makes the perfect tart shells.
Love them or hate them, food blogs have changed the way we cook. Everyone I know has at least one or two food blogs that they go to for recipe inspiration. As with anything that has such a massive impact, they are going to come with their critics. Two such articles caught my eye recently, talking about food bloggers and their cliches.
The New Yorker published a humor piece last week that was written in the voice of a food blogger. It touched on a lot of blogger cliches, from our intent to use cauliflower in every dish imaginable to the practice of providing ingredient and step-by-step photos. It portrayed food bloggers as silly, morally-superior, red wine-guzzling sentimentalists. It’s hard to know if the writer was laughing with, or laughing at, food bloggers, but I have a hunch she was laughing at us.
Then, a friend shared a feed on Reddit where users complained about the ‘story’ leading up to the recipe in a blog post. In true Reddit fashion, the discussion in the comments was tangential and often hurtful. Other things that the anonymous users of the internet took issue with – people who comment on blogs, people who offer recipe modifications in the comments, people with dietary restrictions, mothers who talk about their kids too much, people who share life events on Facebook, and people who write product reviews on Amazon. I guess I’m in good company?
The general consensus of the feed was that the story that introduces a recipe is not why people read blogs. To some, it was even an annoyance and they were angered that they had to waste time even scrolling past it. The horror!
I do struggle with how to introduce recipes. I agonize about those few short paragraphs that I share before I get to what you’re (apparently) really here for. It really takes me forever to figure out just what to say, which is probably why I sounded like I was at such a loss in my last post. It’s really interesting to hear the (somewhat jaded) perspective of all those anonymous haters out there on Reddit. It makes me wonder if I should scrap the small talk and just get right to it.
I guess I just don’t know the answer to that, and I’m curious if any of you, dear readers, have any thoughts on the matter. How do you read blogs? Do you scroll quickly down to the recipe? Or do you find the storytelling aspect draws you to a certain blog because you can relate to the author? Or a little of both perhaps?
Speaking of cliches though, now that I have the story portion of this post done, let me tell you about these lemon lavender tarts! Lemon gets an upgrade with the fragrant addition of lavender. I added a few drops of lavender oil to my fabulous lemon curd recipe that keeps gracing the blog over and over. It made the perfect filling for mini tart shells made from the famous Bouchon Bakery pâte sucrée dough. I assure you, once you have tried this dough, you’ll have no need for any other! Topped with a dollop of honey meringue, they really are a delightful dessert. No story needed.
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Lemon Lavender Tarts + Bouchon Pâte Sucrée
Lemon Tarts get a fragrant upgrade with the addition of lavender oil to the lemon curd. Bouchon Bakery’s Pâte Sucrée tart dough makes the perfect tart shells.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 58 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
Ingredients for Bouchon Bakery Pate Sucrée:
- 375 g flour
- 46 g + 94 g powdered sugar, divided
- 47 g almond flour or meal
- 225 g unsalted butter, at room temp
- 1/2 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise and seeds scraped
- 56 g eggs
- Dried beans, for baking
Ingredients for Lemon Curd
- 2/3 cup lemon juice, about 4 lemons
- 4 large eggs
- 2 egg yolk
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch table salt
- 4–5 drops of lavender oil
Ingredients for Honey Meringue:
- 150 g good quality honey
- 100 g egg whites
Special Equipment:
Instructions
Make the pâte sucrée:
- Sift the flour and 46 grams of powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Add the almond flour, breaking up any lumps. Whisk to combine.
- Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream on medium-low speed with the paddle attachment until it is pale and holds peaks.
- Sift in the remaining 94 grams of powdered sugar and mix on medium-low for about 1 minute, until fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in the vanilla bean seeds, about 30 seconds.
- Add the flour mixture in 2 additions, scraping the bowl between and mixing until just combined. Add the eggs and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Bring the dough together into a ball and transfer to a flour covered surface. Work it together by kneading it a few times. Divide the dough in half and form each half into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. The dough will be good in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen for up to one month.
Make the lemon curd:
- Heat lemon juice over medium heat until hot but not boiling.
- Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and yolk in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the sugar. While whisking, slowly pour hot lemon juice into the eggs. Return to saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture registers 170 degrees and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove pan from heat and stir in butter. Once melted, stir in cream, vanilla, salt, and lavender oil.
- If there are any lumps, you can strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer (optional). Curd is able to be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks, just cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
Make the honey meringue:
- Heat the honey in a saucepan on medium-low. At the same time, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip them on medium speed to medium peaks.
- When the honey reaches 248F, drizzle it into the eqq whites. The meringue will deflate. Increase the speed to medium and whip for 5-10 minutes until the whites hold stiff, glossy peaks. The meringue should be room temperature when you are finished.
Assemble the lemon lavender tarts:
- Roll out the tart dough to 1/8 inch thick. Line tart pans and trim the excess. Freeze for 30 minutes.
- Crumple a piece of parchment paper and use it to line the chilled tart shells. Fill the shells with dried beans and bake at 325 F for 16 minutes. If your oven is prone to uneven heat, rotate them once at the halfway point. Remove the parchment paper and the weights and bake for another 12-14 minutes. Let cool in the tart pans for a few minutes, then unmold and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Spoon the lemon curd into the cooled tart shells. Pipe the meringue onto the curd. To make the pattern you see in the photos I cut a 3/4 inch hole into my piping bag and piped a large dollop onto the tart. I then created the peaks with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the meringue with a few lavender flowers to finish.
Notes
Tart Dough from Bouchon Bakery, Lemon Curd by Kelly Egan
There’s something out there for everyone, which is the beauty of blogging in general. I wouldn’t let a NY Times article or Reddit bother me too much.
I prefer the stories attached to the recipes since I read to learn more about my friends and to hear about how they’ve been.
Nom nom nom. I loved seeing this in action! (Also – do you want my coffee cup??;)
These are completely gorgeous! Seriously beautiful. I love the colors and can only imagine that these taste incredible.
You are of course in good company because I am one of those people who comments on blog posts… sorry I’m not sorry. I enjoy commenting because I love interacting with people who write things that mean something to me and sometimes those people are only available in this little box at the bottom of their posts. I figure this is as good of an opportunity as any to connect.
xx Katie
lovely letters
I arrived here on your site today specifically to find a lemon lavender tart recipe (top search result!) but I always appreciate bloggers who share their story 🙂 Sometimes I don’t have time to read it all (I’m a slow reader :P) and scroll past it for the recipe but I’d never consider it a waste of time in any way! Sadly, for some people the internet gives them the anonymity to be the bully they never got to be in school =/ Please don’t let those kinds of people deter you from sharing your story if that’s what you feel like doing! Haters gonna hate 😛
But back to this recipe: *drool!* I don’t think I’ll get to it soon, but I’m definitely pinning it for future reference! Looks divine 🙂 I will be back to let you know how it turns out when I do! Thank you for sharing!
My favorite of all time. So delicious. Awesome recipe.
Simon
Love your blog! And I love the stories that food bloggers tell before getting to the recipe. That’s what differentiates us from recipe websites like all recipes or Martha Stewart even. Plus the introduction gives us space to tell the reader about any special tricks or techniques they might need to make the recipe.
You can’t please everyone but know that there are many of us who enjoy the story 🙂
Hi Kelly! You absolutely made my day! I’m so glad you enjoy what’s outside the recipe. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Quality articles or reviews is the important to attract the visitors to visit the
site, that’s what this site is providing.
I’m guilty of just wanting the recipe and scrolling through the write-up, although I obviously read yours 🙂
I haven’t been to your site before today, and of this is your approach to blogging, I will become a regular.
I find so many bloggers provide way too much background information, and the photos of every single step are tiresome. At least that’s my view. But it’s their blog and they can do whatever they want. At the end of the day, readers want good recipes. So it doesn’t much matter how much a blogger puts into the intro if the product isn’t good.
My main beef is the ability of readers to rate a recipe without ever making it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found a recipe with a large number of 5 stars only to read reviews that say “this looks delicious”. Whaaat?
It’s pretty much pointless to rate a recipe without ever making it. What is the rating for? The photos? What if the recipe doesn’t work? It’s been given five stars on a hunch?
Btw I didn’t rate this recipe but if I make it I will be sure to return and rate it! Thanks!
Hi Karen – Thank you for stopping by and reading this post! It also gave me the chance to re-read it and reflect on how blogging has changed in the last decade since I started. Unfortunately it seems like you are in the minority for what you are looking for with blog content! People mainly find me through search engines these days and are looking for something specific, not a human connection. I find that I’ve changed how I write so it’s more informative and less entertaining. It’s not something I enjoy but it’s what people seem to want. It seems like now people use social media for that kind of content. It’s definitely something I’m struggling with! I wish you all the best and thank you for your kind words.
Hi Kelly,
These tarts look gorgeous and I love homemade lemon curd. Most lavender recipes I have seen use lavender buds, I am assuming the lavender oil a culinary one not lavender essential oil?
Thanks for the recipe,
I actually use essential oil!
Thanks for your reply Kelly,
Ooh interesting, and it doesn’t over power the lemon? I shall have to give it a try ?
Just a couple drops! Make sure you taste as you go.