My Long-Promised Easy Lemon Meringue Tartlets

Alright, my hearties, I’m back! I took a week and bit off from blogging, so I could focus on getting rid of my migraine. And…it worked! *touch wood* I didn’t stop cooking and baking during that time, though, so I’ve got lots of yummy things to share. First up: my long-promised lemon meringue tartlets recipe.

A fancy dish that isn’t as hard as all that. Want to learn how? Read on, dear reader…

The Crust

A flaky, buttery crust, that holds together but crumbles satisfactorily in your mouth. Yum! It’s just my vodka pie dough recipe, rolled out, pressed into tart pans, and blind-baked. I blind-baked my tarts at 400 degrees until the crust was golden. Then I removed the pie weights (I used dried chickpeas!) and foil, and let them cool. My vodka pie crust recipe will make enough for three or so tartlets, depending on your pan size.

How to blind bake? Easy peasy. Put your dough in your tartlet pans, prick the dough with a fork, cover with foil, and fill with dried chickpeas. You can see a picture in my Pink Grapefruit Tarts post, if, like me, you’re more of a visual learner.

The Filling

Lemon curd, baby! Also known as my new go-to fridge staple. Got toast? Add lemon curd. Got plain cookies? Sandwich with lemon curd. Greek yoghurt? Top with lemon curd. <– Like a healthier parfait! Especially if you layer it in a wine glass with fruit and oat crumbles.

In this case though, you just fill the cooled tart shells with the lemon curd. I’ve used a variety of recipes. I recommend this one, but feel free to use your own. The recipe will definitely make more lemon curd than you’ll use in these tartlets, but that’s not really a problem, is it? *grin*

The Meringue Topping

Inspired by the Cranberry Crackle Tart that my bake-a-long group made from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Baking Chez Moi (run-on sentence much? *takes deep breath and continues with sentence*), I made a meringue topping. But I like it crunchier, more like meringue cookies, as opposed to the fluffy soft, foamy (blech!) usual meringue topping.

Here’s what I did:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 c. sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat eggs with sugar until foamy and then add in sugar, salt, and vanilla. Keep beating until slightly less foamy, and most importantly, SHINY! This will take a few minutes.

Top the lemon-curd filled tarts with the meringue, and bake in a 250 degree oven until tops are crusty when tapped with a finger, and starting to brown., roughly 45 minutes. Ish. Remove, let cool, and gobble up. Because these things are tasty, sunshine!

To sum, (1) blind-bake the tart dough, (2) fill with lemon curd, (3) top with a meringue and (4) bake on a low temperature. Then eat. And savour every flaky, crunchy, soft, tart mouthful. Spring has sprung! In yo’ mouth.

Next Post: Nutella. And mini cupcakes. That is all.

Post-Pub Edit: As I’m always in search of foodie fame and fortune, I’ve added this recipe to a recipe link-up at Stacey’s Monday Meal Plan recipe gather-up at the Southern Bite site. Check it out here!