I'm a bit of a sucker for lemon desserts.  How about you?  I also love making mini desserts, so here are my mini lemon meringue tarts.

I recently purchased a kitchen blowtorch and couldn't resist by making something meringue-based so I could use it.

These Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts are so delicious.  They have a shortcrust pastry for the casing, a tangy lemon custard filling and fluffy meringue tops.

If you have a few lemons lying around make these and you will be loved by your family and friends.

Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts

Ingredients

Tart Crust 

·  1 cup plain flour
·   ¼ cup icing sugar
·   90 grams butter, chopped

·   1 egg, separated

Filling    

                          

·   4 eggs
·   1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
·   ¾ cup lemon juice
·   ¾ cup caster sugar

·   ½ cup thickened cream

Swiss Meringue

·   2 large egg whites

·   2 tablespoons caster sugar

Instructions

Tart Crust

1.      Blend or process flour, icing sugar and butter until combined.  Add the egg yolk ONLY (reserve the egg white for the filling) and process until all ingredients just start to come together.

2.      Knead the mixture lightly on a bench until a dough forms.  Wrap dough in cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3.      Grease or spray with oil 10 to 12, 8cm loose-based mini tart tins. 

4.      Roll the pastry between two sheets of baking paper and use a large round cookie cutter to cut out the circles for the tart tins.  Ease each pastry over the mini tart tins and press it to the side and trim the edges. Using a fork, poke some holes at the bottom of the pastry.  Freeze for 15 minutes.

5.      While waiting for the pastry to rest.  Preheat oven to 180°C.

6.      Cover the pastry with baking paper and fill it with dried beans or rice.  Blind bake in oven for 12 minutes.  Remove the baking paper and beans or rice and bake the pastry for a further 6 to 8 minutes until lightly brown. 

7.      Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C.

Filling

8.      Whisk eggs, egg white, rind, lemon juice, sugar and cream in a medium bowl.

9.      Using a strainer or sieve pour mixture through to make it smooth.

10.  Pour mixture into the mini pastry cases and bake for 15-20 minutes or until just set.  Allow the mini lemon tarts to cool.

Meringue Top

11.  Place egg whites and caster sugar into a large bowl.  Place over a pot of simmering water on low.  Whisk until the sugar has dissolved completely.  To check if the sugar has dissolved, rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers.

12.  Remove from heat and using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed for about 10-15 minutes until mixture has completely cooled.

13.  Place meringue into a piping bag fitted with a French star nozzle tip and pipe over the tops of the mini tarts.

14.  Use a kitchen blowtorch to caramelise the tops of the meringues.

Tips

·  Remember to reduce the oven temperature for the final bake of the lemon tart. 
·  If you don’t have a food processor, you can make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour and icing sugar until it resembles bread crumbs and then knead to form the pastry dough.
 ·  Best to pipe meringue tops as close to serve as possible. These mini lemon meringue tarts can be refrigerated but the meringue will soften over time. 

Did you bake this recipe?

Remember to tag @youcanbakeittoo on Instagram & hashtag #youcanbakeittoo 

so I can see your wonderful bakes.