THE BEST RECIPES HAVE A STORY
Today we step into the kitchen of one of the world’s greatest and most conflicted writers, Leo Tolstoy, to re-create the lemon tart that haunted him.
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Recipe Vault Rating: 9.7/10
Serves: 8
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 45 mins
Difficulty: Medium
Pans Required: 2 x Lil Legacy Pans, 1 x Ironclad Junior
Tolstoy once said, “What is stronger than death and fate? Anke Pie.”
Anke Pie was a family recipe for a lemon tart so tasty it kept Tolstoy in moral crisis for nearly thirty years.
Tolstoy was one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Anna Karenina and War and Peace reshaped literature. His essays on peace and nonviolence later inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
But the visionary writer was at war with peace.
In his forties, Tolstoy felt hollowed out. He had fame, wealth, a devoted wife, thirteen children, and an estate that ran like a small kingdom. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all a lie.
He began to ask: Why are we here? Why do we suffer? Why do we die? Shouldn’t we all have Anke Pie?
What followed was a kind of spiritual collapse that turned a celebrated author into a barefoot prophet.
He gave up meat.
Then wealth.
Then copyrights.
He stopped hunting. He stopped writing novels. He refused sugar because it was harvested by slaves. He cobbled shoes. And, ironically, he worked barefoot in the fields.
Even after all that, he still struggled to part with Anke Pie.
The recipe came from a family friend of his mother-in-law, Dr Anke. When Sofia married Leo in 1862, she brought it into the household like a dowry.
On paper, it seemed harmless. A lemon custard tart in a shortbread crust. But over time it became a delicious nemesis. An irresistible symbol of the world he was trying so hard to leave behind.
When Sofia laid the table just so, or insisted on fresh linens for guests, Tolstoy would watch barefoot from the garden.
He knew what was coming.
Anke Pie.
And the internal struggle would begin again.
Would he refuse a slice?
Even just a little slice?
You decide.
Tolstoy not enjoying lunch.
Tolstoy not enjoying having his picture taken with Sofia.
Tolstoy not enjoying his bicycle.
Short Bread
100g butter, softened
1 t vanilla essence
2 egg yolks
200g white flour
50g white sugar
Pinch of salt
Lemon juice to bind
Lemon Curd
2 egg yolks
100g butter
100g sugar
Zest and juice 2 lemons
Pinch of salt.
First, make the curd.
Whisk all the ingredients together in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. This will take about 20 minutes, so settle in and enjoy. Refrigerate the curd so it thickens and doesn’t ooze everywhere when you assemble the cake.
Heat the oven to 160°C.
Beat the butter, vanilla essence and egg yolks until just combined. Lightly mix in the dry ingredients until it forms a light crumb. Add enough lemon juice so that when you squeeze the crumbs together with your fingers, they hold.
Liberally grease 2 Lil’ Legacy Pans and 1 Jnr.
Divide the crumbs between the 2 Lil’ pans, reserving 3 T for the Jnr.
Press the shortbread mixture into the pans with your fingers, making sure it’s evenly spread. Leave the crumbs loose in the Jnr.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Set the crumbs aside to cool.
Smear 4 T of the cold, thickened curd onto a serving plate. Nestle one of the shortbread circles on top of the curd and cover it with half the remaining curd. Repeat with the second shortbread layer and the remaining curd. Cover the sides of the shortcake stack with curd and decorate with the shortbread crumbs and lemon slices.
Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve.
Here’s a playlist to go with your recipe.A mix to take you back to the 19th-century kitchen beneath Yasnaya Polyana to make this hauntingly good Russian classic. Listen on Spotify.
