Sweet Bakery Lemon Meringue Tarts Recipes

LEMON MERINGUE TARTS

Steps:

• Make the crust: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar at medium speed to combine. Scrape down the bowl, add the egg yolk, and beat until well blended. Scrape down the bowl and add half of the flour; beat on low speed until crumbly. Stop the machine, add the remaining flour and the cream, and beat on low speed just until a dough forms.
• Turn out the dough and shape it into a ball, then flatten the ball slightly into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or up to 1 day.
• Dust a work surface with flour. Cut the chilled dough into 1-inch pieces; using the heel of your hand, knead the pieces back together into a smooth disk. Keeping the surface well floured, shape the disk into a 12-inch-long log. Cut into 6 equal pieces. Refrigerate 10 minutes.
• Remove one of the dough pieces and transfer back to the well-floured work surface. Using your fist, squish the dough into a disk, then roll using a rolling pin to form a very thin (1⁄8-inch) round. Center the round over a 4 3⁄4-inch fluted tart pan, preferably with a removable bottom, or a tart ring. Run your fingers around the inside of the pan or ring several times, easing the dough into the edges to avoid tearing. Be sure the dough fits against all the sides and nooks of the pan. Trim excess dough from the top edges. Dock the bottom of the dough sparingly with the tines of a fork. Transfer to a baking sheet and freeze for at least 10 minutes or until firm. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, refrigerating the scraps as you work in case they are needed to patch any holes.
• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the pastry is light golden brown and the interior is dry, 12-15 minutes. If the bottoms of the shells puff up as they bake, tap them down lightly with your fingers or the back of a fork as often as needed. Remove and let cool in the tart pans completely.
• Using a large spoon, fill the tart shells with the lemon curd. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
• Make the meringue: In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer, whisk the egg whites on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium-high, and mix for 1 minute. With the motor running, gradually add the sugar in small (1-2 teaspoon) increments. Once all the sugar has been added, continue beating the egg whites until stiff, glossy peaks have formed.
• Carefully unmold the tarts. Place a generous dollop of meringue in the center of each. Caramelize the meringue with a kitchen torch if desired. Serve immediately, or refrigerate up to 1 hour. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

LEMON MERINGUE TARTS

Steps:

• For the crust: Place 12 identical 3 1/4-inch brioche a tete molds in the freezer.
• Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to 2 to 4 times, then add butter and pulse 8 to 10 times, until texture looks mealy and no large lumps of butter remain. Pour on water and pulse 5 times. (At this point, the mixture should hold together when squeezed.) Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and draw the plastic up around it, squeezing and pressing the dough into a ball. Flatten into a 1-inch-thick disk and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and place on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Dust the top of the disk with a small amount of flour and top with a second sheet of parchment. Roll dough out into a round 1/8-inch thick. Use a 5-inch biscuit cutter and cut 6 circles out of the dough. Re-roll once if necessary.
• Remove the brioche molds from the freezer. Line 6 of the molds with the dough, being careful to press the dough into all the nooks and crannies. Gently run the rolling pin over the tops of the molds to trim the edges. Nestle each of the empty brioche molds inside the molds with the dough. Place the sandwiched molds in the freezer refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and position a rack in the center of the oven with a second just beneath it.
• Remove the sandwiched molds from the freezer. Place them, inverted, directly on the center rack with a sheet pan on the rack below to catch any butter that might render out. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the molds from the oven. Flip right-side up and remove the top molds.
• Turn the oven up to 400 degrees F, return the tart shells to the oven and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes more. Remove the tart shells from the oven and let cool completely on a baking rack before removing the shells from the molds.
• For the lemon filling: Whisk egg yolks until light in color in a medium nonreactive bowl and set aside.
• Whisk cornstarch, sugar, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and temper the yolks by slowly adding the hot starch mixture to them in a steady stream, whisking constantly, until a third of the starch mixture has been worked into the eggs, then return that mixture to the saucepan. Whisk in the butter and continue heating until just boiling.
• Stir in the lemon juice and zest, reduce heat to medium-low and whisk constantly until mixture returns to a boil. Cook for 1 full minute more, then transfer to a medium bowl over an ice bath. Cool, stirring occasionally, until the curd is just slightly warmer than room temperature. (Do not chill or cool completely, or the curd will become difficult to spread.) Pour or use a pastry or zip top bag with the corner cut off to pipe the mostly cooled curd into the tart shells until flush with the tops of the shells. Cool filled tarts completely on a baking rack while you make the meringue topping.
• For the meringue: Whisk together the egg whites until foamy, then add the sugar, cream of tartar and salt in the heat-proof bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 165 degrees F. Then return the bowl to the base of the stand mixer and whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until medium-stiff peaks form. Increase the speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes total. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
• Pipe the meringue to cover the top of the cooled tarts. Brown the meringue under a preheated low broiler, about 1 minute, or with a kitchen torch.

LEMON MERINGUE TARTS

Steps:

• Place the flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, butter and salt in the bowl of your food processor and mix with the flat beater.
• Add the egg and continue mixing until a homogeneous paste is obtained.
• Couvrir la pâte de film alimentaire et placer au frais pour au moins 1 heure.
• Spread the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper 3 mm thick.
• Make tart circles with the sweet dough and place them in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 347°F/175°C rotating heat and bake the tarts for about 10-15 minutes.
• Place the egg whites in a container or in the vat of your mixer with the whisk.
• Make a syrup with the water and sugar, place them in a saucepan over medium heat and control the temperature which must first reach 230°F/110°C.
• As soon as the syrup has reached 230°F/110°C, whisk the egg whites at high speed.
• At 244°F/118 ° C, pour the syrup over the whites while allowing the mixer to rotate.
• Continue mixing until the meringue has cooled and is firm.
• Garnish the inside of the tarts with lemon curd and smooth the surface with a spatula.
• Fill a piping bag with Italian meringue and decorate with the top of your tarts.
• Then lightly blowtorch the meringue.

SWEET BAKERY LEMON MERINGUE TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F Butter 8 tartlet pans and set aside. Put the sugar, salt, flour, almonds, and almond extract in the bowl of a food processor and process to mix. With the machine running, add the butter in the feed tube about 2 tbsp at a time. Process until dough forms a ball.
• Press dough into tartlet pans and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• To prepare the curd, put the lime juice, zest, sugar, and egg yolks in a metal bowl, whisk until the curd thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
• Pour into prepared tartlet shells.
• To prepare the meringue, put the egg whites and the cream of tartar in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer and mix on high speed until the egg whites are very fluffy.
• With machine running add the sugar a little at a time. Continue to whip on a high speed until whites are shiny and stiff peaks form.
• Place meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe over the curd.
• To brown the outside if the tartlets, place the tartlets on a broiler pan and brown.

LEMON-CREAM MERINGUE TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 225°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff and glossy, about 8 minutes.
• Using generous 1/3 cup meringue for each, scoop 8 dollops of meringue onto prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Using back of spoon, make 2 1/2-inch-wide indentation in center of each meringue, spreading meringues to form 3 1/2-inch-diameter nests.
• Bake meringues until crisp, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)
• Bring 1/2 cup cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 8 mint sprigs; remove from heat. Cover; let steep 30 minutes. Strain mixture into bowl; discard mint.
• Combine egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium-low heat until mixture thickens and instant-read thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F, about 5 minutes. Transfer custard to glass bowl; whisk in mint-infused cream. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.
• Using electric mixer, beat remaining 1/2 cup cream in medium bowl until peaks form. Fold into lemon mixture. (Filling can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• Spoon filling into meringue shells. Garnish with additional mint sprigs.