Lemon Meringue Tart
This is an absolutely delicious Lemon Meringue Tart - I've added in a step where the pastry is lightly coated with white chocolate, it keeps the pastry beautifully crisp.
This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.
Ingredients
Yummo Shortcrust Pastry
Dry ingredients
150 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour
35 g Maize starch
80 g Caster sugar
~1/8 tsp Salt
Wet ingredients
1 Egg yolk
60 g Water (boiling)
10 g Vanilla bean paste
175 g Butter (melted)
Optional food dye - ½ tsp Yellow food dye & 1/8 tsp Cochineal (similar to custard powder colour)
White chocolate
Lemon curd filling
5 Egg yolks
150 g Lemon juice
210 g Sugar
160 g Butter
30 g Maize starch
50 g Water
Lemon zest
Italian Meringue
5 Egg whites
350 g Caster sugar
170 g Water (hot)
20 g Glucose syrup
~10 g Vanilla bean paste
Method
Pastry – similar to the other shortcrust recipes on the website.
Mix the dry ingredients together (I usually blitz them together in a food processor).
Combine the wet ingredients. Melt the butter, add in the boiling water, vanilla & combine. Quickly mix in the yolk.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon/spatula. It will be really, really runny to start with - this is okay & the way it should be.
Let it sit for 5 mins & give it another stir. Put it the fridge for a couple of hours until it is cold & a lot harder.
Turn the oven on to 170 C.
Kneed the dough until it is pliable. Roll it out between 2 sheets of baking paper to approximately 2 - 3 mm thick. I usually use 2 mm thick dough for little tarts and 2 - 3 mm for larger tarts.
For little tarts - using mini cupcake trays or muffin tins
If the dough is too soft to work with put it back in the fridge for 5 mins.
Grease inside the cupcake trays.
Find a cutter larger than the cupcake tray holes. I used a flower shaped cutter as it makes it easier to put the cut dough into the holes.
Cut out the dough shapes and prick the centre of the shape before you transfer them to the tin.
Transfer the cut out dough to the top of the cupcake tin holes. I use the end of a wooden tool to push the dough into the hole.
Put a patty pan on top of the dough. Fill the patty pan with rice or other weight for blind baking.
Blind bake for approximately 15 min (it will depend on your oven so check the pastry at 10 min). Reduce oven temperature to 120 C.
Take the tin out of the oven & carefully lift out the patty pans.
Put the tin back in the oven and cook the pastry for another 10 mins (or longer if necessary). It will depend how thick you rolled out the dough.
Allow to cool.
Melt the white chocolate. Coat the inside of the tart case with the white chocolate (doing this helps the pastry to stay crisp for longer after you've added in the lemon curd).
For larger tarts - using a flan dish
Grease a ~26 cm flan dish.
Line the dish with the dough.
Blind bake for approximately 25 min (it will depend on your oven so check the pastry at 20 min). Reduce oven temperature to 120 C.
Take dish out of the oven & carefully lift off the baking paper. Put dish back in the oven and cook the pastry for another 10 - 15 mins. It will depend how thick you
rolled out the dough.
Allow to cool.
Melt the white chocolate. Coat the inside of the tart case with the white chocolate (doing this helps the pastry to stay crisp for longer).
Lemon Curd Filling
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat.
Increase the heat when the butter has completed melted.
Gently boil for approximately 5 min. The starch needs to be fully cooked, I usually taste a little to work out if I need to cook it for longer.
Transfer to a food processor (or use a stab blender) and blend until the curd is smooth.
Allow to cool before transferring to the tart case(s). I used a piping bag to fill the smaller tarts with lemon curd.
Let the tart(s) cool before topping with the Italian meringue.
Italian Meringue
Put the sugar, glucose syrup & water into a heavy based saucepan. Heat gently until all sugar has dissolved.
Increase the heat - do not stir the sugar syrup after it has started boiling.
Boil for approximately 5 - 7 min.
While the sugar syrup is boiling whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.
Keep whisking the egg whites and pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream onto them.
Increase the speed, add in the vanilla and continue to whisk until the meringue is thick, glossy and no longer warm.
Cover the lemon curd with the meringue. Transfer meringue to a piping bag if making little tarts.
Turn the oven on to 210 C.
Put the finished tart(s) in the oven for approximately 5 min to brown the top of the meringue. Alternatively use a blow torch.
They are now ready to be eaten 🙂.
Simply enjoy.