Lemon Meringue Tart

Name: Lemon Meringue Tart
Total time: 4 h
Yield: 6 tartlets
Ingredients: Ingredients for preparing Almond cream; 40g of butter, softened; 40g of icing sugar; 40g of eggs; 40g of almond powder; lemon zest; Ingredients for preparing Pâte sucrée amande (Shortcrust pastry) (recipe of Pierre Hermé); 140g of butter, softened; 75g of icing sugar; 1 egg; 25g of almond powder; 250g of flour; pinch of salt; 10g of egg yolk + 2g of water; Ingredients for preparing Lemon Curd; Juice of ½ big lemon; Zest of 1 lemon; 45g of sugar; 1 egg; 50g of butter, cold; Ingredients for preparing Italian Meringue (recipe of Pierre Hermé); 60g of egg whites; 120g of sugar; 40g of water; Ingredients for preparing The Assembling; The pâte sucrée with almond cream; Lemon curd; Italian meringue

6 tartlets
4h
Difficult

Français

Published: 12 November 2020
Last modified: 23 May 2021

A French classic dessert; the lemon meringue tart. The dessert is composed of a shortcrust, almond cream, lemon curd and italian meringue.

I used the recipes of the chef Pierre Hermé for the shortcrust and the italian meringue. I also added a thin layer of lemon flavored almond cream. I prepared the unbaked almond cream, the lemon curd and the shortcrust the day before. Please note that the quantities mentioned here are for about 6 round tartlets of 7 cm.

RECIPE

Cream the butter with the icing sugar.
Whisk in the egg.
Add almond powder and lemon zest.
Cover the cream with a plastic film and keep at least 1 hour in the fridge.

Bring all the ingredients to room temperature 30 minutes before starting
Cream the butter with the icing sugar and a pinch of salt.
Whisk in the egg.
Add almond powder and mix until well combined.
Add the flour
Try not to knead the dough or over mix it once the flour is added.
Lightly spread the dough and cover with a cling film.
Keep the dough in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
Spread the dough with a rolling pin between 2 baking sheets and put it in the tartlets molds.
Freeze the unbaked tartlets for at least 1 hour.
Bake the frozen tartlets in a preheated oven at 160°C for 10 minutes.
Remove the tartlet molds and brush with the egg yolk mixed with water
Bake for 5 more minutes
Put a thin layer of almond cream (described above).
Bake for 10 more minutes
Leave to cool on a wired rack.

Put the lemon zest, the lemon juice and sugar in a small pan and bring to a boil.
Beat the eggs then add them to the mixture. Keep stirring over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Remove the pan from heat and add butter.
Mix the cream until the butter is totally melted.
Put the curd in a glass bowl and cover with a cling film.
Make sure the cling film is in contact with the curd to avoid having a solid cream layer on top when it cools.
Keep the curd in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Italian Meringue (recipe of Pierre Hermé)

60g of egg whites

120g of sugar

40g of water

Put the sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
When the syrup temperature reaches 115°C, start whipping the egg whites.
When the syrup reaches 121°C, remove immediately from heat.
Slowly drizzle the syrup over the egg whites while still mixing.
Whip the meringue until soft peaks form.

The Assembling

The pâte sucrée with almond cream

Lemon curd

Italian meringue

When the tartlets are completely cold, fill with lemon curd.
Decorate with italian meringue, using a piping bag.
Carefully caramelise the Meringue using a blowtorch.

RECIPE

ENJOY YOUR HOMEMADE TREAT!