I am trying to remember how these tarts made it into Dede’s baking schedule. I didn’t have any leftover ingredients from another bake, or some ingredient that was about to expire. Most likely a picture caught my attention, and as I have no will power…

I used my go to short crust pastry for the tart shell and a standard Italian meringue to top the tart. The blackberry/yuzu curd was a new recipe but again, pretty standard. The final result was an outstanding synergy between all the parts. A real keeper.

Blackberry/Yuzu Meringue Tarts

INGREDIENTS
Plain flour, for rolling

Shortcrust pastry
• 100 g cold butter cut into small cubes
• 60 g icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 egg – 1 for the dough and the other 1 reserved for an egg wash
• 200 g all-purpose flour
Meringue
• 150g (or ¾ cup) granulated sugar
• 60ml (or ¼ cup) water
• 60g (or ¼ cup) egg whites (about 2 large egg whites)
Curd
• 450g blackberries
• 2 Tbl yuzu juice
• 4 Tbl corn starch
• 325g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter, cubed
• 4 egg yolk
• 1 large egg

METHOD

1. For the Shortbread Pastry – Cut the butter into the sugar
   a. Add salt then vanilla
   b. Add egg and mix until incorporated
   c. Stir in flour. Mix by hand like you are kneading bread until incorporated
2. For the pastry case – Roll out the pastry to ¼” thick. Gently push the pastry into the tart case leaving a little overhanging the edges.
   a. Trim the excess pastry but leave a little overhang. Chill for 30 minutes.
   b. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line the pastry with baking parchment, fill with baking beads and blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and beans; bake for a further 5-6 minutes, until golden. Set aside to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF.
3. For the curd – put the berries and yuzu juice in a food processor, blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve into a large bowl (you should have 1 ½ c). Discard the seeds.
   a. In a large, heavy-based pan, mix the corn starch and sugar, then stir in the blackberry mixture. Cook over a medium heat, stirring with a balloon whisk, until thick and smooth.
   b. When it starts to bubble, take it off the heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Leave to cool slightly, then whisk in the egg yolks and the whole egg. Return the mixture to the heat, whisking for 5-8 minutes until it becomes a very thick dropping consistency. Set aside.
4. For the meringue –
   a. 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.
   b. 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.
   c. Once the syrup is boiling, clip on a candy (or sugar) thermometer.
   d. 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.
   e. 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.
   f. 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.
5. Assembly –
   a. Fill the tart case with the warm curd and let cool.
   b. Pipe the meringue as stars covering about half of the top and add a raspberry or other decoration.