Lemon meringue tart

This recipe uses less sugar than the traditional lemon meringue, resulting in more fluffy flummery like finish. This one is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Lemon meringue tart Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  6

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 105 g plain flour
• 100 g cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1 tbsp raw caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp cold water

Filling

• 2 - 3 lemons, juiced
• 1 lemon, finely grated zest
• 4 egg yolks
• 130 g raw sugar
• 40 g unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp corn flour

Meringue

• 4 egg whites
• 85 g raw caster sugar, or to taste
• ½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped

Chilling time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. Grease a 25 cm round, 5.5 cm deep tart tin with removeable base and line the base with a circle of baking paper.
2. Place the flour, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the cold water and process just until a dough comes together. Press the crust into the base and sides of the prepared tart tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile for the filling, place the lemon juice, zest, egg yolks, sugar, butter and 250 ml (1 cup) water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until melted and well combined. Bring the mixture to a very gentle simmer.
4. Mix the cornflour with 100 ml water. When the curd just starts bubbling, slowly stir in some of the cornflour mixture until the mixture thickens. It shouldn’t be too solid and gluggy but just medium - firm so it looks like a light custard when you pour it. You might have some of the cornflour - mix leftover but that’s ok. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. Preheat a fan - forced oven to 180 ˚C. Bake the crust for 10 minutes or until light golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 155˚C.
6. For the meringue, place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time until the meringue is thick and glossy. Whisk in the vanilla bean seeds until well combined.
7. Pour the lemon curd into the tart shell, then gently spread the meringue over the top. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until the meringue is light golden. Remove from the oven and stand until cool, then refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Note:

•I do not bake the custard without the meringue in the oven like many recipes suggest, as in my opinion, it makes the custard heavy and gluggy. I also go a little light on the sugar so the whole thing is more like a fluffy flummery than a tart.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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