Lemon Cheesecake Tart

June 27, 2020

Easy no bake cheesecake filling is topped with lemon curd and fresh strawberries. It's encased in a sweet tart crust pastry with chunks of grahams crackers in the dough.

The video for this tart is right here:

Here is the full recipe 👇🏼

Strawberry Lemonade Tart

Prep: 1 hr
Bake: 25 mins
Total: 1.5 hrs
Yield: 1-9" tart or 9" pie

Ingredients

Perfect sweet tart crust + graham crackers

Ingredient	Volume	Grams	Ounces
unsalted butter, cold from the fridge, cut into TB chunks	1/2 cup (1 stick)	113g	4 oz
powdered sugar	scant 1/2 cup	53g	1.8 oz
salt	1/2 tsp	-	-
all-purpose flour (or pastry flour)*	1 3/4 scant cups	206g (for pastry 182g)	7.3 oz
one egg yolk, from a large egg	3.5 tsp	18g	0.6 oz
whole milk	2 TB	30g	1 oz
graham crackers, crushed into crumbs	about 2 large crackers	-	-
egg white (from egg yolk, above)	1	-	-

To a stand mixer, add the butter, powdered sugar, and salt. Mix on medium-low speed until smooth and completely combined. Scrape down the sides.
Add the flour mixture and turn the mixer on low. Mix until the butter is evenly incorporated into flour and feels like damp sand. This should take a minute or two.
Use a fork to mix the egg yolk and milk in a small bowl. Pour it into the mixer, and mix on low. Don't overmix at this point; you will form gluten strands in the dough, which will yield a tough tart crust when baked.
Feel the dough with your hands. It is done mixing when it feels very damp, contains no visible flour, and easily formed into a ball.
Place the dough onto some plastic wrap, and form it into a ball, and then flatten into a disc. Wrap it tightly and let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
When you are ready to bake, place rack in the lower third of your oven and preheat to 400 °F.
Roll out your dough by flouring the work surface or lining with plastic wrap until it is about 1/8-1/4" thick. In the middle of this process, sprinkle the graham crackers crumbs on the surface so they embed into the dough.
Place the tart dough inside of the tart pan(s), making sure the dough is firmly against the sides. Use a fork to poke the bottom a few times. Freeze for at least 10 minutes or until completely frozen, then for large tarts only: line frozen tarts with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights/beans/rice.
Bake on a rimmed baking sheet for about 15-20 minutes or until the dough has hardened a bit, but is still very pale in color. Remove the weights and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. While hot, brush beaten egg white along the interior of the crust to seal. Set aside to cool.

Lemon Curd

Ingredient	Volume	Grams	Ounces
egg yolks	3, from large eggs	-	-
granulated sugar	1/2 cup	100g	-
freshly squeezed lemon juice	1/4 cup + 1 TB	70g	-
unsalted butter	3 TB	42g	-
salt	a pinch	-	-
lemon zest	2-3 tsp	-	-

n a medium non-reactive saucepan, whisk the yolks and sugar until combined.
Add fresh lemon juice and unsalted butter to the saucepan.
Place your saucepan on medium-low heat. Continuously whisk the lemon curd. As the temperature of the curd rises, it will thicken slightly.
The curd is done when it coats the back of a wooden spoon thickly, or if you have an instant-read thermometer, the temperature reaches 196 °F/91 °C.
Add pinch of salt and 2 tsp lemon zest to the warm curd and stir. If you prefer a more tart and sour curd, go ahead and add a little more of the remaining zest.
It will seem slightly loose, but don't worry, it will thicken after it cools a bit. Cover the top surface with plastic wrap while you prepare the rest of the tart.

Cream Cheese Filling and Assembly

Ingredient	Volume	Grams	Ounces
cream cheese, original variety, softened	1 cup (one standard package of the block kind)	226g	8 oz
vanilla extract	1 tsp	-	-
powdered sugar	1/2 cup + 2 TB	-	-
heavy whipping cream, cold from fridge	1/2 cup	-	-
strawberries	about 8 oz (half container)	-	-
heavy whipping cream	3/4 cup	-	-
granulated sugar	1 TB	-	-
apricot jelly (or nappage see below for link)	3 TB	-	-

Place your cream cheese and vanilla extract in a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until combined. Add in the powdered sugar. It will be super creamy, should not have any graininess from the powdered sugar and be cream colored. (Perhaps darker depending on the brand of vanilla extract.)
In a separate bowl, whip the cold heavy whipping cream into medium peaks. I usually do this by hand because I'm already using my mixer to make the cream cheese mixture above. It doesn't take that long either; just take a whisk and flick it from side to side in the bottom of the bowl. You'll see the cream start to get thicker in a couple minutes.
Pour the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and use a large spatula to fold everything together.
Pour the cream cheese filling into the cooled crust
Pour the prepared lemon curd on top of the cream cheese filling.
Arrange strawberries on top of lemon curd.
Pipe whipped cream along the border. (To make, add 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream to a stand mixer bowl plus 1 TB of sugar. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks appear.)
Brush the strawberries with loosened apricot jelly (microwave 3 TB + 1 tsp of water, stir until slightly loose) or my fruit juice nappage, found here
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but it's really best overnight.

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