No-Bake Raspberry Lemon Tart

This light, fruity, slightly lemony tart is so easy to throw together on a summer day.

The Story

Hot. Hot as Hades. So hot I want to cry thinking about it in my cool living room right now. Why is it so hot outside???

This past Sunday, at the end of a very busy, very hot weekend driving all over Northern California seeing all manner of friends and family, we had plans to get Preggo Pizza with our very pregnant friend. Obviously, I wanted to make a dessert, but ain’t no way I was heating up the house with the oven. In fact, this recipe uses the stove and I almost ditched it, but I was dying to revisit my berry curd filling (I need a better name for it, but that’s honestly what it is). My regular raspberry curd is delicious, but it was a big ol’ mess as a pie filling on Father’s Day. I even tried it in a layered pie with pastry cream and whipped cream. Weirdly, the whipped cream was the only thing to hold its shape that day. Le sigh.

So, on this very hot day, I was willing to spend 20 minutes at the stove making this dessert. I’m SO glad I did! This little creation is a keeper!

All I did was mix in bloomed gelatin at the end of cooking my regular berry curd and voila! Raspberry tart. Well, technically berry tart. The recipe is for raspberry filling, but in the photos it’s half blueberries, half raspberries. Any berry will do.

A note on this tart

I usually avoided fruit tarts until I recently found a lovely, creamy vanilla tart at a local patisserie. It got me thinking about how to make fruit tarts that are actually yummy.

This tart is not your traditional, store-bought fruit tart, with pastry cream filling and weirdly shiny fruit on top. And that’s why I like it. It’s like lemon curd meets cream pie meets berries. And I love the crust! I’m also not a fan of the typical tart shell, so a graham crust adds flavor and texture. Plus, it’s far less likely to get soggy.

And yes, you could easily double or triple this recipe and make it a pie. Oooh, with a nice, fresh whipped cream on top. If you make that, please let me know and maybe make one for me. :)

Tips for this dessert

1. Straining isn’t a big deal with this dessert. Last time, I strained it before tempering the egg then again after tempering the egg, because I wanted to be extra certain no seeds were in it for my husband’s grandmother. And also because I always see them straining after the egg step in case any egg scrambled. This time around, I assumed I’d strain it because I used half blueberries and half raspberries, but I was hot and tired. Turns out, no one noticed any seeds or blueberry skin and we saw no scrambled egg. So take your pick.

2. Chilling in the freezer is only a quick fix. Don’t leave this in the freezer longer than an hour or two.

3. I used the bare minimum amount of sugar (as I often do), so if you want a sweeter dessert, you can increase the sugar in both the crust and filling by 1-2 tablespoons. However, you will miss out on the tartness of the berry and lemon.

4. If you really love lemon, you can bloom the gelatin in lemon juice instead of water and increase the zest. However, I found the recipe below to be a nice balance for the average consumer.

5. Careful with the crust. The no-bake crust works because the butter re-solidifies in the fridge. However, this means you’re cutting through cold butter, so slice carefully and be sure to press it into the pan evenly.

Excuse those cut marks. I was so excited to eat this I forgot to snap a pic first. FYI, if you want an even cut on a round dessert, make a line through the dead center, rotate 90*, then make another line in the dead center. Now you have a guide!

No-Bake Raspberry Lemon Tart

Total time: 30 minutes, plus 1-8 hours to chill

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 sleeve graham crackers (about 9 crackers, will make roughly 1 1/4 cup graham “flour”)
• 9 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 2 cups raspberries or other kind of berry, fresh or frozen
• zest and juice of one large lemon (about 1/4 cup juice)
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water

Instructions:

1. Grease an 9" tart pan with a removable bottom with baking spray or butter. A pie or springform pan works as well.
2. Pulse the sleeve of grahams (about 9 crackers) and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor or blender until finely ground. It should be a little coarser than flour. Blending the sugar with the grahams helps it really distribute evenly.
3. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter and mix into the graham flour until none is still dry. Press the mixture evenly into the tart pan, first with your fingers then firming up with the bottom of a cup. Make sure the edges get a bit of a corner to them or they'll be hard to cut. Place in fridge to set while you make the filling.
4. Make the filling. Combine berries, lemon juice, lemon zest, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar (or 1/3 cup if you prefer a very sweet filling) in a saucepan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit breaks down, about 8-10 minutes.
5. While the fruit cooks, whisk egg and egg yolk in a small bowl until slightly frothy. Also while the fruit is still cooking, bloom the geletin by sprinkling it over the 2 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl, mixing, and letting sit while you finish the fruit.
6. Temper the egg by SLOWLY adding about half the berry mixture into the eggs, whisking VERY quickly as you pour. Be careful! You don't want to scramble the egg! Reduce heat to low and add the tempered mix back into the saucepan, whisking about 1 minute to fully incorporate. (Optionally, you can strain it through a fine mesh sieve at this point, but I don't mind the seeds. If you do strain, press well so you don't lose too much of the filling along with the seeds.)
7. Add the gelatin and whisk 1-2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in the butter until melted. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes then pour into chilled crust. Be sure to fill as high as you can without spilling, as it will decrease slightly in volume as it chills.
8. Chill for several hours or overnight in the fridge. Alternatively, you can chill it in the freezer for about an hour, but you will need to let it sit out for about 20 minutes in order to get a knife through the crust.

You can serve it with fresh whipped cream and fresh berries, but it's pretty killer on its own!

Enjoy!