Instructions: Make the Sweet Pastry: In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, or cut in the butter with a pastry cutter. Add sugar and egg yolks, and pulse again until the dough comes together, which will be almost immediately. Turn the dough out on a piece of plastic wrap, form it into a ball, wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coarsely grate chilled pastry into a fluted, 12-inch loose-bottomed tart pan. Press dough down evenly, about 1/8-inch thick, on the bottom and up the sides of pan; do not let pastry warm. Chill again for at least 30 minutes. Line shell with parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow shell to cool before filling.

Make the filling by combining eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, and sugar in a large, nonreactive saucepan over very low heat. Whisk until eggs break up, and combine with the sugar. Add half of the butter, and continue whisking to prevent the mixture from curdling. Once the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, add the remaining butter, and stir until very thick. (If the mixture curdles, quickly remove from heat; strain into a bowl, and immediately cool over an ice bath.)

Remove from heat, and continue stirring until lukewarm. (You can cool it more quickly by transferring the filling to a bowl set in an ice bath.)

Heat broiler. Spoon the lemon filling into the Sweet Pastry tart shell. Prevent the crust from burning by placing a tart ring upside down over the top edges of the tart. Place under the broiler for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the top is speckled with brown, caramelized spots; rotate the tart, if necessary. Serve plain or with a dollop of creme fraiche.

This recipe yields one 12 inch tart.

Yield: 1 twelve-inch tart

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