Inspired by Donna Hay’s Lemon Curd Squares recipe, I opted for an easy way out and made my own Lemon Meringue Tartlets (with Tartlets bought from the trusty Phoon Huat Store in Holland Village) thus only needing to make the Lemon Curd filling and the meringue.  I made 2 versions, one with meringue and another with a dusting of icing sugar (I always have a ready pack at home).

The Donna Hay recipe from Issue 51, Autumn 2010, has a recipe for how to make your own crust but I figure you could possibly purchase frozen shortcrust pastry sheets or tartlets like the ones I have (though the feedback has been that I could have toned down on the pastry a little). I will share here the recipe for what I’ve done and the variations that I recommend 🙂

Lemon Meringue Tarts

Makes 18 tarts

Equipment
20cm x 3o cm loose based tart tin/ 25cm Round tart tin
Baking Paper
Baking Beads/ Rice
Mixer
Spatula
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Piping bag and tip
Strainer

Ingredients

Lemon Curd Filling
4 eggs
2 egg yolks (save egg whites for meringue)
1 ½ cups of lemon juice
2 tbsp grated lemon zest (roughly 2 lemons worth)
1 ½ cups of caster sugar
1/3 cup of plain flour (sifted)

Pastry
1 sheet of shortcrust pastry

Topping A – Meringue
2 egg whites
3-4 tbsp of caster sugar
Tiny pinch of salt (for better meringue peaks)

Topping B – Icing Sugar
1 – 2 tbsp icing sugar

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line the lightly-greased tart tin with shortcrust pastry, making sure to press into the bottom and the sides of the tart tin.
3. Bake blind¹ for 10 – 15 minutes.  Set aside.

For Lemon Curd Filling
1. Reduce oven temperature to 160°C.
2.Whisk eggs and egg yolks together until combined.
3. Add sugar, flour, lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk till smooth.
4. Once combined, pour over base and bake in the oven for 30minutes or until just set.
5. Remove from oven and set aside.
6. If using Topping B, place Lemon Tart in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Voila, you now have a Basic Lemon Tart, proceed on to explore 2 types of topping –

Topping A  – Meringue
1. Increase temperature of the oven to 180°C.
2.Place egg whites and salt in mixer and whisk like mad – until you get soft peaks.
3. Add the sugar, tablespoon by tablespoon and continue whisking like mad until you get super stiff and glossy peaks.
4. Place meringue in a piping bag with a closed star tip (I used a 2D Wilton tip) or any other type of piping tip that you like.
5. Pipe the meringue onto the now-cooling Lemon Tart.
6. Place Lemon Tart back in the oven (I promise this will be the last time) until the meringue starts to brown.
7. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool, before placing it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Topping B – Icing Sugar
1. Before serving, dust icing sugar over the Lemon Tart.

To Serve
1. Slice the tart into smaller pieces. When slicing you can use a knife that has been dipped into hot water and dried with a tea towel. (The warm knife allows you to make a clean cut into the tart)

Notes:
¹Blind baking is a technique used when making pastry cases – weights are placed on the pastry to prevent it from rising. First, use a fork to prick the bottom of the tart base after lining the tart tin and then drape a sheet of baking paper over the pastry. Fill with baking beads/weights or rice and bake according to recipe.

Confession – your meringue shouldn’t turn out like the one I have above which is bubbly and frothy (I didn’t add enough sugar I only had like 1 tbsp) – so be good and follow instructions as above k?

Update: Just put up a new pic of medium sized lemon meringue tartlets I made this weekend with MUCH better meringue. Go for it people! We need at least equal tablespoon parts of sugar to egg whites – i.e 1 egg white is to 1 tablespoon of sugar.

I had some left over tartlets, Valrhona chocolate and whipping cream (from something else I’d made) and put together another bite-sized treat!