Whole Lemon Tart

There's really only one important thing you must do when trapped in your house for a snow day. That important thing is not shoveling 13 inches of snow, nor is it doing laundry, cleaning your bathroom, painting your toenails, or watching Purple Rain. Although I did do all of those things yesterday, the one thing I'm talking about that's the most important is to bake something sweet and tasty.

Continuing my budget-friendly theme, this dessert costs next to nothing to make. And if you have a lemon on hand, I'm pretty sure you'll already have the rest of the ingredients in your pantry.

The recipe comes from David Lebovitz, who calls these "bars" (I thought only Minnesotans used that term!). Since I didn't have an 8 inch pan, I made it into a tart and adjusted the baking times accordingly.

You really do use the whole entire lemon (except the seeds). It makes this tart super tart (ha!), but also makes it not overly sweet.

Whole Lemon Tart, adapted only slightly from David Lebovitz

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 lemon, organic or washed, sliced thinly and seeds removed

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

3 large eggs

4 tsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp butter, melted

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients together and press into a tart pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Reduce oven temp to 300 degrees.

In a food processor, add lemon slices, sugar, lime or lemon juice, eggs, cornstarch, salt, and butter and blend until smooth. Add to baked crust and return to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until it's set in the middle and no longer jiggly.

Let cool and dust with powdered sugar. Store leftovers at room temperature.

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