You may remember from a previous post that a friend gave me a dozen small lemons from her tree and I made Lemon-Honey Madeleine cookies for her in return. That prompted her to give me two dozen more lemons. I made some gluten free tartlet shells for QC’s mahjong group (one of whom is gluten intolerant) and 5” tart shells for the neighbor QC Corps.

I did a search for different meringue/tart piping ideas and liked this one. After torching, I sprinkled some lemon zest on the top and will ultimately add a blueberry to each small tartlet and two or three to each large one.

Key Lemon Pie and Tarts

INGREDIENTS
Filling
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1 can
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
• 2 teaspoons fine lemon zest no white
• 1 graham cracker crust gluten-free if desired
• optional whipped cream lemon zest and lemon slice(s) for garnish
Graham Cracker Crust
• 1 ½ cups finely crushed regular or cinnamon graham crackers (24 squares)
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 beaten egg white
• 3 tablespoons sugar

METHOD
Filling

1. Zest, then juice lemons, to get 2 teaspoons of zest and 1/2 cup of juice.
2. Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, zest and lemon juice (add half at a time) until well combined.
3. Pour filling into prepared crust and bake for 15 minutes at 350 F. Cool pie completely on rack, then chill for a minimum of 1-2 hours (filling will continue to set as it cools). Store covered.
4. Optionally, before serving, top with whipped cream rosettes, lemon zest and lemon slice(s)

Graham Cracker Crust

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In a food processor pulse the crushed graham crackers several times, then add the rest of the ingredients until well mixed.
3. Reserve 3 tablespoons crumb mixture for garnishing top of pie before serving, if desired. Press remaining mixture firmly and evenly against bottom and side of pie plate.
4. Bake at 350 F for 10 min. Set aside to cool

OPTIONAL Tartlet Shell
INGREDIENTS
• 50 g cold butter cut into small cubes
• 100 g all-purpose flour
• 30 g icing sugar
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 egg – ½ for the dough and the other ½ reserved for an egg wash

METHOD

1. Mix butter with sugar
2. Add salt then vanilla
3. Add egg and beat until incorporated. It may not be smooth.
4. Stir in flour. Mix by hand until incorporated
5. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 30 min
6. Butter or spray tartlet pans, or use non-stick pans
7. Roll dough to ~ ⅛” thick, then lay over tart mold and press into all crevices and roll top to cut off excess. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes
8. Prick holes in bottom and sides of formed dough
9. Fill tarts with pastry weights (I put weights in a cupcake paper for small tartlets and crumpled and form fitted to the larger tart molds.)
10. Paint edges of the tartlet with the egg wash.
11. Bake in preheated oven 350 deg F (175 C) for 15 min (Remove wights and papers 5 minutes before the end of the bake.)
12. Immediately remove from pans and cool on a wire rack

ITALIAN MERINGUE

INGREDIENTS

• 150g (or ¾ cup) granulated sugar
• 60ml (or ¼ cup) water
• 60g (or ¼ cup) egg whites (about 2 large egg whites)

METHOD

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Heat over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to medium-high and allow the syrup to come to a boil.
2. In the meantime, add the egg whites to a medium-sized, heatproof bowl and mix (with a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment) until foamy and the whites are almost able to hold soft peaks.
3. Once the syrup is boiling, clip on a candy (or sugar) thermometer.
4. Cook until the syrup reaches 116°C/240°F, then take the pan off the heat and slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the bowl with the foamy egg whites, mixing continuously to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Don’t pour the syrup onto the whisk, or the syrup may splatter against the sides of the bowl (or into your face!). Instead, aim for a spot close to the whisk.
5. Once all the syrup has been added, keep mixing until the bottom of the bowl feels cool to the touch and the meringue has cooled down to body temperature.
6. Use immediately or keep in the fridge (covered) until ready to use. It’s a very stable meringue, so it won’t start weeping, leaking or collapsing.

NOTES

Italian meringue can be made two days in advance and stored in the fridge until needed (covered with plastic wrap).