January 11, 2015
Rob
5

Recipe: Lemon meringue tart

And here I am, back on the blog after the holidays, for the first recipe of 2015!

And what’s better than kicking the year with a great French classic?

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The lemon meringue tart (“tarte au citron meringuée”) has the perfect balance of flavour: the lemon curd is tangy and creamy, but on the other side, the browned Italian meringue is soft and sweet and everything is packed in a crunchy shortbread crust.

illustration-lemon-meringue-tart

As a reminder, the meringue is not a crunchy baked meringue: in pastry, any mixture of egg whites and sugar is called meringue. And this Italian meringue is a specific type where a sugar syrup at 118°C is added while whipping the egg whites. Finally the Italian meringue is great to be browned with a pastry torch!

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This tart is quite easy to make, but some care should be used in the meringue piping: you should avoid leaving “empty” spots near the edge and of course the meringue should be lightly browned, not burnt! 😛

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But of course, you can pipe any decoration you like on top of the tart (I like using a star tip for my piping bag and I usually leave the centre of the tart with no meringue, so the cream shows), and you can also spread the meringue in a random pattern with a spatula.

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Finally, if you don’t have a propane torch, no worries: you can put the fridge-cold tart with the room temperature meringue for a few seconds in a pre-heated oven at the maximum temperature with the grill/broiler on.

 

Lemon meringue tart

Print recipe

Ingredients

Shortbread tart dough

250gPastry flour
200gUnsalted butter (cold)
100gPowdered sugar
15gHoney
25gEggs (roughly half egg, beaten)
1 pinchSalt
1/2Lemon zest

Lemon curd

75gLemon juice
1Lemon zest
3Eggs
135gGranulated sugar
100gUnsalted butter

Italian meringue

60gEgg whites (room temperature)
120gGranulated sugar
40gWater

Directions

Shortbread tart dough

1
Place the flour and the diced butter in a bowl
2
Mix together the two ingredients quickly (to keep the butter cold) by using the tip of your fingers only. Do not overmix and stop when you obtain a coarse mixture (the so-called "sable"/"sand").
3
Add the remaining ingredients and mix by hand to obtain a homogeneous dough. Do not overmix.
4
If necessary, to avoid overmixing, you can knead with the palm of your hand once or twice maximum (technique: put the dough in front of you; starting from the farthest end, push a small amount of dough away with the palm of your hand; repeat until all the dough has been "pushed away")
5
Wrap in a plastic film, flatten and store for at least 2 hours or better overnight
6
Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface until it's 3mm high. Rotate the dough often to prevent it from sticking (but don't flip it)
7
Place the dough inside a buttered tart ring and press with your thumb to form an edge all around
8
Reinforce the edge with your thumb, while covering it with an excess of dough of about 1cm. Pass the rolling pin on the tart ring to cut the unnecessary dough. Save the scraps for another preparation.
9
Raise the excess of dough by pressing it against the ring and so that the dough is half cm higher than the ring. Refrigerate for several hours. Place a piece of parchment paper inside the tart and fill it with beans (or other cereals or pastry weights, to prevent the dough from rising) then blind bake at 170°C. After 15 minutes, remove the tart ring and the weights (and optionally brush the side with egg wash) and bake for 5-7 more minutes.

Lemon curd

10
Combine the lemon juice, the lemon zest, the eggs and the sugar in a saucepan (or better: in a bowl over a pan of simmering water)
11
Keep the saucepan on medium heat, stirring often
12
When the mixture is warmer than 50°C, start whisking constantly and vigorously and bring to a boil for one minute. The mixture will thicken like a pastry cream.
13
Remove from the heat, place the lemon curd in a large container, covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate (or chill quickly over an ice bath) till around 50°C
14
Add the diced butter in 4-5 times and emulsify the mixture either with a spatula or, better, with an immersion blender
15
Use the lemon curd to fill the tart up to the edge, then refrigerate for a couple of hours

Italian meringue

16
When the cake is cold and the cream has set, prepare a syrup placing the water and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil
17
When the syrup reaches 104°C, start whipping the egg whites on high speed
18
When the syrup reaches 118°C, pour it slowly on the inner side of the bowl after decreasing the whipping speed of the mixer to medium-low.
19
Keep whipping on high speed until the meringue goes back to room temperature (you can just touch the side of the bowl to know), then fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip

Assembling the cake

20
Keep the piping bag vertical and pipe roses or other decorative patterns (I like to leave some tart surface "uncovered" in the centre)
21
Move a propane torch quickly over the meringue to give it a browned look (but not a burnt black!). I usually keep the torch always in the same position and turn the cake of 90° when I'm done, to continue on another side.

Note

  • It is very important that the butter be cold when mixed with the flour: the purpose of the "sablage" method is to isolate the flour with particles of fat; if the fat is not cold enough, this action cannot be performed correctly
  • This recipe is very rich in butter, so the dough should definitely rest for hours in the fridge, otherwise it will be too difficult to roll out
  • The unbaked dough can be stored in the fridge for 2 days or in the freezer for 3-4 months. Baked tart doughs can be stored for several days in a dry environment away from light and air.

 

 

 

 

 

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