Recipe - Lemon Chess Tarts

1 Three fourths cup Sugar
6 tablespoon Lemon juice (up to 8)
2 Lemons, rind of, grated
One half cup Butter
6 Eggs, well beaten
12 Baked tart shells (use your
favorite pie crust)

I looked for recipes that had a colonial history. Brandied peaches seemed
to be the easiest to prepare of the the traditonal ones, but somehow they
didn't seem right for a school project! Here's a recipe for Lemon Chess
Tarts and one for Sally Lunn.

This originally was a cake or a tart of light pastry containing cheese and
was often mentioned from around 1440 onward. Over the years, however, the
cheese disappeared from the recipe, and lemon or orange or almonds were
substituted. But the word "chess," a housewifely corruption of "cheese,"
has remained in the name to this day.

Mix sugar, juice, and rind Melt butter in top of double boiler. Add sugar
mixture and eggs. Continue cooking over hot water until very thick,
stirring constantly. Cool, cover, and regrigerate. When chilled, fill tart
shells.

Posted to FOODWINE Digest 01 Mar 97 by Pat Timpanaro neonflam@CRL.COM on
Mar 2, 1997.