Lemon Meringue Tarts

Lemon meringue tarts

The Queen of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts,

She made some Tarts,

All on a Summers Day:

The knave of Hearts,

He Stole those Tarts,

And took them right away,

The King of Hearts,

Called for those Tarts,

And beat the Knave full sore:

The Knave of Hearts brought back those Tarts,

And vowed he’d steal no more.

Today I made Lemon Meringue Tarts for my brother-in-law’s birthday; my little niece Narla helping all the way (it being a pupil free day). We took a long while to beat, bake and create; our tarts in the end, taking all day to make. Our pastry was faulty, our technique was not great, But brother-in-law loved them and we had a ball.

I know that doesn’t quite rhyme, but that is really how the day went. Narla (who is 7) arrived at 12-ish. We made pastry until 3. Of course I decided to double the recipe (as per usual). I could only find a 1/4 measuring cup, so Narla counted and we measured out 16 quarter cups of flour. At this time I asked “Am I the Queen of Tarts?” and Narla agrees. I agree that she must be the “Princess of pastry”, and she sings all the while.

 Lemon meringue tarts.

This recipe is loosely based on the family circle recipe “Little Lemon Tarts”

Pastry: (this is doubled), 4 cups plain flour, 250g butter chopped, 4 teaspoons caster sugar, 4 egg yolks, 4 tablespoons lemon juice (remember; always add a little extra for good luck), 2 teaspoons  lemon rind (the lemon looked a bit shiny, so i scrubbed it), ……….. plus don’t forget the bloody iced water: 2-3 tablespoons-double it, triple it! In all our fun, we forgot the (bloody) iced water; we mixed and we mixed and the pastry did not come together, I took another look at the recipe and realised my mistake, so at this stage we added the iced water and tried again. It was meant to come together into a ball but it was more of a dusty hill, so we add extra water and keep at it.  The pastry is worrying, it does finally come together with more and more water, but it seems wrong.

At this stage we have checked a few times and realise that the chickens are not laying anymore eggs today, we need the last 4 eggs for the filling and I only have three. So we make an executive decision to go with the defective pastry. I roll out the pastry, splotched with pretty, bright yellow patches, using my regular rolling pin; a wine bottle; empty or full. The pastry should be rolled to 3mm or as thin as I can roll it (how thin is 3mm?). Rolling pastry is really good exercise for the arms – especially if you double it. Narla oils the Tart pans and our song goes: “I love oiling, oiling is oiling” (Narla) “Rolling is Rolling,” (me) And “Tarting is Tarting” (us). We thought it was good. We cut out our rounds with a bowl that seems to be about the right size (it is) and leave them for a few minutes – to shrink, because as Narla says “No-one wants shrinking Tarts!” and I agree.The pastry is then gently pressed into tart tin before blind baking until golden.

After all that tarting around (sorry), the filling is really easy: (This also doubled) 250g softened cream cheese, 1 cup caster sugar, 3 or 4 eggs, 4 tablespoons lemon juice (double this – at the least, the end result is too sweet otherwise) and 320g of condensed milk (more or less). Mix together before adding to cooled pastry cases in tart tins.

This could be the end of it, but something must be done with the egg whites. The answer is meringue. Approx 1/2 cup sugar per 2 egg whites makes a pretty decent meringue, the more sugar you add, the stiffer the meringue will be. Beat whites into stiff peaks, add sugar slowly, beating between additions, beat until sugar is dissolved (rub a bit between your fingers to test). Spoon this into lemon filled pastry cases. Swirl little swirls with a knife and wallah! Little Lemon Meringue Tarts. Cook for ten to fifteen minutes depending on the size of your tart tins.

The kids give them two thumbs up, brother-in-law loved them, I reckoned they were too sweet; they needed more lemon and less sugar.