lemon cheesecake tart

I love cheesecake, but I sometimes get overwhelmed by the huge volumes of cream cheese required to execute the typical towering cheesecake monolith - 3, 5 even more bricks of cream cheese go into these giants. This is a thinner, low key layer of cheesecake, just one 8 ounce brick of cream cheese needed. It also has an excellent ratio of crumb base to cheese cake filling, because the graham crumbs are one of the top two reasons for eating cheesecake in the first place.  

You can get all that rich, tangy cheesecake flavour, in a petite little tart package. A puddle of lemon curd on the top takes it to the next level.

lemon cheesecake tart:

adapted from Martha Stewart

• 1 ⅓ cup graham crumbs

• ¼ cup melted butter

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

• ¼ cup + 2 tbs sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

• ½ cup lemon curd, store bought or homemade

Combine graham crumbs and butter, and press into the bottom and sides of a 13” rectangular fluted tart pan. Bake at 325 for about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and lemon zest and juice; whisk until very smooth. Pour into graham crust and bake until just set with a slightly wobbly centre, 15-20 minutes.

Cool completely and spread lemon curd over the cheesecake. Cut into thin slices to serve.

pecan pie

Pumpkin is a vegetable (well technically a fruit, but never mind that) and therefore pumpkin pie is very nearly a salad. That's why Thanksgiving needs another pie, a pie that is definitely not a salad. It needs a sugar pie. Sugar pies are the ones with gooey, caramel-y, custardy filling. They might have nuts, like pecan pie, or raisins like buttertarts, or sometimes they are fairly unadorned, like a chess pie. I love sugar pies, of all types, with and without fillings and topping. They are jiggly and sweet and rich, and just what you need after a huge meal of turkey, stuffing and lots of potatoes. Happy Thanksgiving!

crust: 

adapted from Bon Appetit. Makes twice as much as you need, tightly wrap the unused portion and freeze it for another pie later. 

• ⅓ cup almond flour

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 1 big pinch salt

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces (my butter was not chilled, doesn't seem to matter too much)

• 2 large egg yolks

• 1/4 cup cold water

Combine almond flour, granulated sugar, salt, all-purpose flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until mixture is just combined and has a sandy texture. Combine egg yolks and water and drizzle them over the flour mixture. Pulse until just combined. Add a few drops more water if the dough isn't coming together. 

Dump the dough out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and squish it into a rectangle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.  Roll out chilled dough to about 1/8th inch thick. Transfer to a pie plate and trim excess from around the edges. Crimp edges and put in the freezer until the filling is ready. 

filling: 

adapted from Martha Stewart

• 2 cups pecan halves

• 4 eggs

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

• 1 cup golden syrup (use dark corn syrup if you like, but golden syrup is nicer)

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all filling ingredients and stir well until evenly mixed. Pour into chilled crust and bake at 350 degrees, about 50 minutes, or until the center just slightly wobbles when shaken, but the edges are set.