Looking for something sweet that will tantalise your tastebuds? Well, we may have the recipe for you.
If you’re like us and can’t help but crave a sweet treat after dinner then you’re in luck.
This mini lemon meringue pie recipe comes from Matthews Cotswold Flour and only takes 45 minutes to prepare, plus chilling, and has a baking time of 15 to 18 minutes.
Even better it makes 12 to 24 mini lemon meringue pies (depending on the size of your tin), perfect for sharing with your loved ones.
The recipe doesn’t require many ingredients either so you won’t have to splurge at the supermarket.
How to make mini lemon meringue pies
Ingredients
- 300g Plain Flour
- 150g Salted Butter (cold, cut into cubes)
- Half a Jar Lemon Curd (you can use homemade here, or just buy the best you can!)
- Two Egg Whites
- 100g Caster Sugar (don’t use golden caster sugar here)
Method
First, weigh up your flour into a large bowl and add the butter. Using your fingertips, rub the fat into the flour to create breadcrumbs (you can do this in a food processor if preferred).
Add cold water one tablespoon at a time and cut this in with a table knife. Alternatively, you could tip your flour and fat out onto a clean counter and add the water with your hands.
Keep adding water one tablespoon at a time until you have a crumbly dough – don’t be tempted to add too much water or you’ll end up with a pastry that is too soft and is easily overworked.
Form the pastry into a round and cover with cling film before placing it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180C, and remove your pastry from the fridge (if the pastry has been in the fridge for more than one hour, leave it on the counter for 10 minutes before moving on to the next step).
Roll out your pastry to about 0.5cm thickness and use a pastry cutter or a glass to cut out your tart cases. I like to use a bun tray instead of a muffin or cupcake tray as they’re not as deep – this way you get the right proportion of pastry to jam.
Line your tin with your pastry and pop the whole thing back in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, just to firm it up. This is pretty important as we aren’t going to blind-bake with anything to weigh the pastry down.
Prick the bases of the tarts a few times with a fork to prevent any air bubbles from blowing up in the oven.
Bake the tarts for 15-18 minutes, or until the pastry is a pale golden colour and is baked through.
Next, add a teaspoon of lemon curd to each of the tarts, and smooth down a little. Place the tray back into the oven for five minutes to allow the lemon curd to melt into the tarts.
It’s important not to bake the pastry with your lemon curd already in, as it will bubble over and ruin the tin.
Once the lemon curd has evened out in the oven and is filling the tins nicely, take it out and leave them to cool out of the tin on a wire rack.
To make your Swiss meringue, get a pan of water on a medium heat on the hob and bring to a slow simmer.
Put your egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl over the pan of water. The aim is to heat the mixture through to at least 70 degrees Celsius without cooking the eggs
Use a whisk to keep the eggs and sugar moving while it heats through – if you don’t have a food thermometer, you want to heat them through until the sugar is completely dissolved, there should be no graininess.
Keep heating until it’s too hot for you to keep your finger in the mixture (but be careful testing it).
Remove the eggs and sugar from the heat, and whisk using either a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer for 15-20 minutes, or until it has completely cooled to room temperature.
After this whisking, you should have a stiff and shiny meringue with lots of volume.
You can either pipe the meringue onto the tarts or use teaspoons to deposit it, then for an extra special touch – use a blowtorch to get a golden colour on the meringue.
It does not need to be baked again as the egg white is already cooked. You can put them under a hot grill to get a golden colour if you don’t have a blowtorch.
