Looking for a refreshing dessert? Try this elegant recipe, made with one of South Africa’s most intriguing local gins. Just add a Christmassy drink for a celebration to remember.
Glyn French, Flowstone’s Master Distiller, has put together the perfect southern-hemisphere make-in-advance Christmas recipe for this sunny gin-and-tonic lemon tart!
Gin & Tonic Lemon Tart (make it one day before)
For the pastry:
1½ cups plain flour
5 Tbsp icing sugar
½ cup (125g) salted butter
Pinch of salt
grated zest of a lemon (reserve juice)
3½ Tbsp tonic water
1 Tablespoon freshly crushed fennel seeds
For the filling:
Grated zest and juice of 4 lemons (grate the zest for garnishing)
2 Tbsp Flowstone Marula Gin
1¼ cups caster sugar
4 eggs and 2 more yolks
2 Tbsp juniper berries
1 cup (225g) butter
2 gelatine leaves
Preheat oven to 160°C. Combine pastry ingredients to form a dough (don’t over knead it). Line a well-greased 30cm tart tin/dish – about 3mm thick. Pop into the fridge for half an hour then bake blind for 15-20 mins. Allow to cool completely.
Bloom the gelatine in cold water. Whisk the first four filling ingredients together and add the juniper berries and butter. Cook in a bain-marie, stirring until thickened. Squeeze the water from the gelatine and stir into the filling. Strain out the juniper berries and cover the filling with clingfilm, pushing it down onto the surface to prevent a skin forming.
Allow to cool, then spread over the pastry, and chill overnight.
Serve garnished with lemon zest, and, if you like, a gin syrup.
For the gin syrup:
Stir ¾ cup caster sugar, 1 cup tonic water and the juice of 2 lemons over low heat. Once the sugar’s dissolved (about 30 mins), add 4 tbsp gin and lemon zest and simmer for 5-10 mins.
And don’t forget the perfect Christmas Gin Fizz:
Mix up a jug of 1 part Flowstone gin to 2 parts cranberry juice. Half-fill champagne glasses with this and top with bubbly. Garnish with raspberries.
