Individual Lemon Meringue Tarts
This is my second Daring Bakers challenge recipe, and I’m happy to say it was another success! I’ve never tasted meringue before, much less tried my hand at making it. It smells like angel cake when it’s baking and has a very similar flavor. The lemon curd was perfect – not too tart, not to eggy. All this on top of a crust that tastes like shortbread.
The recipe can be easily adapted for a single large tart, a pie, “free-form” or tinless tarts, or even made in muffin cups. I’ll describe the method I used here.
Thanks to Jen of The Canadian Baker for the challenge. It is based on a lemon meringue pie recipe from Wanda’s Pie in the Sky
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
3/4 cup cold butter; cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ice water
For the Filling:
2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Directions:
To Make the Crust:
Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a log. Slice the log into 6 equal pieces. Dust each slice lightly with flour and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 20 minutes.
Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll each disk out to a diameter of about 6 inches. (Note: If you have a board with guides for pie sizes, there should be a small tart size indicated.)
Line 6 small tart pans with the dough, trimming away the excess. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.
To Make the Filling:
Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crusts. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.
To Make the Meringue:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled tarts, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Add decorative peaks or swirls.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden.
Cool on a rack. If desired, remove from the tin before serving.
Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.
Makes 6 tarts.
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January 28th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Your tarts look terrific! Love all the photos too!
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January 28th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
So pretty! I love the little tarts! I really want some mini tart pans.
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January 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Oh wow, they are amazingly beautiful, wonderful job. Congratulations on your 2nd challenge.
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January 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
aah the meringue looks fantastic!
I love the spikeyness!
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January 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
They look very cute!
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January 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
They look lovely! Your meringue is gorgeous too! :)
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January 28th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Beautiful LMPs!
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January 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Love the pictures detailing the process. What a beautiful result!
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January 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Looks like a little work of art!!
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January 28th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
The tarts look beautiful!
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January 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
What lovely little tarts! I admire your patience – I just made one big pie, but I love the look of all those little ones that you made.
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January 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Such beautiful little tarts! Wonderful pictures!
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January 28th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Your meringue looks perfect! I would have never guessed that you’ve never had it before!
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January 28th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Oh my, your tarts are elegant and cute all at the same time. Love them!
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January 28th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Well, I was proud of my “cloud”, but yours is absolutely amazing!
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January 28th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I love your “prickly” meringue. Great job on your challenge this month.
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January 29th, 2008 at 12:39 am
They look fantastic- you did a great job :O)
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Love your little pies! They look so cute. I chose the spiky meringue as well. Looks great!
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January 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Perfect tarts. Nice job on your challenge.
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January 29th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Ooooohhhhh- Drrrraaammmmatic Meringue alien mountains- cool!
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January 29th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Awesome tartlets, oh the meringue is so pure and so whote, I love that one more!
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Looks good, those are the peaks I am used to having but cooking with kids I over beat my egg whites and they would not peak and nice as yours.
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January 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
How cute they are!
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January 29th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
*Gorgeous* tarts Dawn. Question though: for six mini-tarts, did you reduce the recipe? and if not, how much did you have left over?
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January 30th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Your tartlets look absolutely wonderful. And such great photography!
Jane of VeganBits.com
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January 30th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Thanks, Dolores! I used the recipe as-is. I had enough dough left, after trimming the edges, to maybe make one more. I was afraid the dough would be overworked and tough if I rolled it into another crust, so I just tossed it. The filling and meringue yielded about enough for one more tart also, although I wouldn’t have been able to pile the meringue as high.
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January 31st, 2008 at 1:05 am
They’re really pretty, nice work!
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January 31st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Aboslutely beautiful! What a great job you did on the challenge this month!!
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January 31st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Holy Cow! I think those are the most splendid LM Tarts! Great job!
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January 31st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Your tarts look amazing, and I love your mini tart pans!
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February 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Great job! I love the tarts. I agree that this was a great pie, no eggy-ness there.
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February 4th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Gorgeous! : )
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February 4th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
What cute meringue! I really want to get one of those pie rolling mat things.
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February 5th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Those are pastry shop worthy! Well done!
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February 26th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
[...] Individual Lemon Meringue Tarts [...]
March 6th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Those are the sweetest looking meringue anything I’ve ever seen. So perfect!
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April 17th, 2010 at 5:59 am
i have made these twice, but the lemon filling never sets for me, it just collapses into a delicious but soggy mess. is it supposed to be refridgerated?
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Dawn Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Sorry to hear you had so much trouble, but kudos on not giving up and trying a second time! It should set as it cools at room temp even prior to adding the meringue topping. If you don’t plan on serving it within a few hours, though, I would recommend storing leftovers in the refrigerator. Since this was a “Daring Bakers” challenge, I know there were some other bakers that had trouble with a runny filling. The only reason I can think of is maybe being afraid of overcooking the filling. It should be boiled until very thick.
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