Lemon and condensed milk cream tart

A lovely tart with a creamy filling made of mascarpone, condensed milk and lemon juice and zest, topped with crunchy lightly fried almond flakes and served with a good drizzle of orange caramel sauce. Crunchy and creamy perfection that tastes as citrus milk caramel (sort of like an orange and lemon dulce de leche) in its perfect form.

You should really try this whenever you feel like something truly divine. (I know that it seems like a pain in the behind, but trust me, it's much easier to make than it looks).
Recipe adapted from Catalina. 

Last year: Authentic carbonara (Italian).
Two years ago: Tuna and clementine creamy spread.
Three years ago: "Lapte de pasăre" (Romanian "bird's milk" dessert, my mom's recipe).




Ingredients (for a 24 cm springform tin):

For the crust:

• 250 g flour
• 120 g butter
• 40 g brown sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

For the cream:

• 1 dose sweetened condensed milk (397g)
• 250 g mascarpone
• 2 lemons
• 1 egg

For decorating:

• 1 large slice orange
• 50 g almond flakes

For the orange caramel:

• juice of 2 small oranges
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 100 ml heavy liquid cream (at least 30% fat)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Cut the butter into cubes and mix it in a kitchen robot with the flour, brown sugar and milk. Roll out the dough and press it into a 24 cm springform tin. Poke little holes in it with a fork:

Cover the tart with baking paper, fill it with pie weights or raw rice or dry beans (we just used mini-tart tins in the heat of the moment):

And put it to bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. While it bakes, make the cream. Just put all the ingredients in a food processor:

And mix well. The filling is done. When the tart shell is baked, remove the weights and paper and pour in the creamy filling.

Return it to the oven for 40 minutes (or until the middle of the tart isn't wobbly anymore when you shake it).
Meanwhile, lightly fry the almond flakes in a dry pan, on low heat:

Shake the pan or stir often because they tend to get burned fast. They're done when they all caught a golden hue and the smell of almond is yummy and inviting.
Take out the tart when it's done baking. Let it cool a bit while you make the sauce.
To make the caramel, put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and place it on low heat.

Cook, stirring, for 5-10 minutes, until it thickens. Add the orange slice to it and let it cook a bit from the heat (1 minute or so, until the rind is soft enough to eat). Remove the saucepan from the heat.

To assemble, transfer the tart to a serving platter, put the orange slice in the middle of it and arrange the almond flakes on the border. Slice and transfer to serving plates, drizzling each slice with the orange sauce. It's done, dig in! :)