A homemade version of the beloved teatime condiment, lemon curd, truly shines in this dreamy sweet that is secured by a buttery tartlet shell and regally crowned with piped meringue and a fresh raspberry. Pictured with our Royal Religieux.
Lemon Curd & Meringue Tartlets
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1⁄3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1⁄2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- Creamy Lemon Curd (recipe follows)
- Italian Meringue (recipe follows)
- 12 fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°. Spray 12 (2 1⁄2x1-inch) mini tartlet pans with cooking spray. Line bottoms with parchment paper rounds.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Vigorously bring mixture together in bowl with hands until it comes together and forms a dough. Shape dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Unwrap dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to a 1⁄4-inch thickness. Using a 2 3⁄4-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut 12 rounds from dough, rerolling scraps as necessary. Press a dough round into each prepared tartlet pan, trimming top edges as necessary. Using the large end of a chopstick, press dough into indentations in sides of pans. Prick bottoms of dough with a fork. Place tartlet pans on a rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Bake until tartlet shells are light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes, pricking bottoms again if dough puffs after a few minutes of baking. Let cool completely on a wire rack before carefully removing tartlet shells from pans. Store in an airtight container and use within a day.
- Fill cooled tartlet shells with cold Creamy Lemon Curd. Place Italian Meringue in a piping bag fitted with a petal-shaped tip (Wilton #104) and pipe a meringue rosette onto each tartlet. Serve immediately, or place in an airtight container, refrigerate, and serve within 1 hour.
- Just before serving, top each tartlet with a fresh raspberry.
Creamy Lemon Curd
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- 3⁄4 cup caster sugar or extra-fine granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- 1⁄3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, cut into
- 4 pieces
Instructions
- In a medium metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until smooth. (Make sure bottom of bowl is not touching water.) Whisk in lemon zest and juice. Cook until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, whisking constantly. (Mixture should coat the back of a metal spoon at the end of cooking time.) Remove bowl from heat.
- Whisk in butter, one piece at a time, until melted and incorporated. Transfer lemon curd to a covered container, refrigerate, and use within a week.
Notes
Kitchen Tip: Caster sugar can be made by processing granulated sugar in the food processor or blender and pulsing until it reaches a super-fine but not powdery consistency.
Italian Meringue
Serves: 4 cups
Ingredients
- 1 1⁄4 cup caster sugar or extra-fine granulated sugar
- 1⁄3 cup water
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, stir together sugar and 1⁄3 cup water over high heat only until combined, then do not stir anymore as mixture heats.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites at low speed while sugar heats up. (You will need to monitor the egg whites and the sugar syrup at the same time.)
- When sugar syrup reaches 230° on a candy thermometer, increase mixer speed to medium-high. When sugar syrup reaches 235°, increase mixer speed to high. Sugar syrup should reach 240° to 245°, at the same time egg whites have thickened to medium-stiff peaks.
- With the mixer still running on high speed, remove sugar syrup from heat and immediately add it to egg whites in a slow, steady stream, carefully pouring straight into the egg whites, not onto the side of the bowl or the whisk attachment. Continue beating meringue until it has cooled and stiff peaks form, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract. Use immediately.
