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Gluten-Free Lemon Ricotta Tart sliced and plated with fresh strawberries

Gluten-Free Lemon Ricotta Tart

A gluten-free lemon ricotta tart built on an almond flour crust. Clean, creamy, and made for a Mother's Day private dinner on a College Hill porch in Providence, in May.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Calories: 420
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Gluten-Free Crust
  • 1 cup blanched almond flour
  • 2 tbsp coconut flour
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (or vegan butter for dairy-free)
  • 1 large egg (or flax egg: 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal plus 2.5 tablespoons water, rested 5 minutes)
For the Lemon Ricotta Filling
  • 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese, strained if wet
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar or honey
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt
Optional Topping
  • fresh berries
  • powdered sugar, for dusting
  • lemon zest curls

Equipment

  • Perforated Stainless Steel Tart Mold, 4.5 inch (12-pack) individual portions, even bake
  • Winco 8-Inch Fine Mesh Strainer for straining ricotta
  • Cutco 1738 Gourmet Prep Knife for slicing strawberries and zesting setup

Method
 

Prepare the Crust
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
  2. Combine the almond flour, coconut flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter and egg and mix until the dough comes together. It should look like wet sand and hold together when pressed.
    3. Press, Don't Roll: Work the dough into the tart pan by hand. Start in the center, push outward, then use your thumb to bring it up the sides evenly. Thin spots brown before the rest of the crust is done.
  3. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Smooth and compact with your fingers or the back of a measuring cup.
  4. Bake the crust for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges and set in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before adding the filling.
Make the Lemon Ricotta Filling
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the ricotta, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt until completely smooth with no lumps or streaks. About two minutes of whisking.
    2. Strain Your Ricotta: If the ricotta looks wet in the container, strain it through a fine mesh sieve for 20 to 30 minutes before using. Wet ricotta gives you a filling that doesn't set cleanly.
  2. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and spread evenly.
Bake the Tart
  1. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes. The edges should be set and the center should still have a slow wobble when you move the pan. Pull it there. Do not wait for the center to look fully set.
    2. Jiggly Is Fine: The center should wobble like set Jell-O when you pull it from the oven. It finishes setting as it cools and then again in the fridge.
  2. Let the tart cool completely in the pan at room temperature, about 30 minutes. Then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing. Overnight is better.
Plate and Serve
  1. Slice cold with a sharp knife. Dust with powdered sugar through a fine sieve, add fresh berries, and finish with lemon zest curls if using. Serve immediately.

Notes

Plating: Whole tart set on a wide room-temperature plate. Powdered sugar dusted through a fine sieve across the top in one tap, stop when the filling just whitens. Sliced fresh strawberries piled at the center, cut-side up. Optional: a spoon of strawberry coulis pooled between the berries if you have it. Nothing else on the plate.
Wine: Moscato d'Asti is the move. Light, a little sweet, low alcohol, and it doesn't fight the lemon. Dry Prosecco works if you want something leaner.
Prep ahead: Make this the day before. The filling sets more firmly overnight and the flavors deepen. Two hours minimum, overnight is better.
Scaling for service: This card is scaled to 4 slices. The full 9-inch tart yields 8 to 10. For 8: one full tart, make the day before, the filling sets firmer overnight and slices cleaner. For 16: two tarts baked side by side, bake time stays 35 to 40 minutes. Do not scale up into one deeper pan, the almond flour crust cracks when the fill-to-crust ratio shifts. Dust powdered sugar at the pass, never more than 60 seconds before the plate leaves or it dissolves into the ricotta.
Dietary swaps: GF as written. The almond flour and coconut flour crust (step 1) was built GF from the start, this is not a swap. To make it dairy-free: sub almond or cashew ricotta (Kite Hill works) and vegan butter in the crust. The filling is slightly less tangy, add an extra teaspoon of lemon juice. For egg-free: the flax egg substitute (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal plus 2.5 tablespoons water, rested 5 minutes) works in the crust. The filling egg is structural, do not skip it. Not nut-free, almond flour is the crust.