Maison Emil Paris: Lemon mascarpone cream

Maison Emil's version of lemon cream consists of lemon curd (which you find in most French tarte au citron or French lemon pie), mascarpone cheese and whipped cream for a rounder, creamier and "lemony" pie. I do like plain lemon curd also, but I often find it a bit sour.

Lemon mascarpone cream tart

Lemon cream filling - recipe a la Maison Emil
Juice of 2 lemons (non treated preferably) - or 3 small lemons
Zest of 1 lemon
2 egg yolks
1,5 dl sugar
1 dl thick cream
1dl or 100gr mascarpone (or philadelphia cheese if you don't have mascarpone)
1 tablespoon butter - or 15gr butter cut in cubes

Tools: handmixer, blender (if you don't have a shortcrust pie and don't have time to bake one, you can use your blender to crush some biscuits before you add the melted butter to form a kind of pie shell)

Ingredients for lemon curd

Cold pie crust

Blind bake the shortcrust pie and let it cool completely before you add the lemon filling. If you don't feel like baking, you can also blend the biscuits and add the melted butter. Add the mixture to a pie mold and keep cold (fridge or freezer) while you prepare your lemon cream.

Quick method:
1. Prepare a bain-marie; i.e. bring a pot with water to a boil and reduce to medium heat.

Use a heat-proof bowl

2. In a heat proof bowl, quickly beat with a hand mixer all ingredients except the liquid cream and mascarpone (just whisk until foamy - don't over whisk).

3. Put the bowl in the bain-marie and stir slowly until the cream thickens.

Stir until it thickens - approx 5 minutes

4. Take the bowl out of the bain-marie and stir in the butter.
We use the bain-marie method to avoid cooking the egg yolks - we are not making scrambled eggs :)

If you like the lemon curd like this, then chill and pour it over the shortcrust pie. Cool and serve very cold.