These whimsical pies are elegant and perfectly-textured — they’ve got a buttery, crisp-tender crust that’ll stand up to tangy-creamy curd, and the meringue holds its shape even overnight!
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr 15 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- Pinch fine salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring
- 1 teaspoon sour cream or yogurt
- Nonstick cooking spray, for spraying the muffin liners
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 lime)
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest plus 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup egg whites (about 2 large eggs)
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch fine salt
Instructions
- Beat the butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Add the sugar and salt and continue to beat until evenly combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the egg yolk. Add half of the flour, beating until just crumbly. Scrape down the bowl again; add the remaining flour and the sour cream, beating just until the dough is evenly moistened. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly to bring it together.
- Roll the dough between 2 generously floured sheets of waxed or parchment paper into a circle about 1/4-inch thick. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Cut out six 4 1/2-inch rounds using an inverted bowl or round cookie cutter. Place a round in each cup of a nonstick standard 6-cup muffin tin and use a small shot glass or your fingers to press each round into the corners and about halfway up the sides for a snug fit. Freeze the dough in the muffin tin for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Spray the outside of 6 standard muffin liners with cooking spray and place 1 on top of each dough cup. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until the crusts are just brown around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool for about 1 minute; then carefully remove the muffin liners and baking beans. Return the muffin tin to the oven and continue baking until the crusts are cooked through and evenly browned, 15 to 20 minutes more. Cool slightly, then carefully remove the crusts from the muffin tin and cool completely on a rack.
- Combine the sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks in a nonreactive saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth and the sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Add the lime juice and lemon zest and juice and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is as thick as sour cream and is just about to simmer, 3 to 4 minutes. (Take care to stir into the sides of the saucepan so that all the curd thickens evenly.)
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Whisk in the butter a little at a time, until smooth. Stir occasionally until cool. (Setting the bowl in a larger bowl of ice will speed this up.). Fill each tartlet with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cool lemon filling.
- Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a stand mixer’s bowl above the water. Whisk together the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in the bowl by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and heat, whisking, until the mixture is hot to the touch (135 degrees F) and the sugar dissolves, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the whites at medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks. Increase the speed to high and continue to beat to make a stiff, cool meringue, about 10 minutes. Dollop or pipe on top of the filling.
- Just before serving, brown the merinque with a kitchen blow torch. (Alternatively, preheat the broiler to high. Set the pies on a baking sheet and place under the broiler until the meringue is evenly toasted, about 2 minutes.) Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
- For Busy Bakers:
- They can be refrigerated for up to 2 days These also freeze wonderfully! They can be assembled and frozen up to 1 week in advance. Defrost for 20 minutes before broiling the tops and serving.
- To make ahead in stages:
- – The crusts can be made, baked and frozen up to 2 weeks.
- – The curd can be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated.
- – The meringue can be made up to 1 day in advance and refrigerated.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 404 calorie |
| Total Fat | 21 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 12 grams |
| Cholesterol | 200 milligrams |
| Sodium | 107 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 49 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 grams |
| Protein | 5 grams |
| Sugar | 35 grams |
Reviews
As others have pointed out, this recipe is an absurd amount of work and time for six cupcake-sized lemon meringue pies. The outcome was nice, but the recipe is a mess. There are three parts: crust, curd, and meringue. Crust and curd can be made ahead, and I would do that. I used my own crust recipe but did bake them as instructed here, which is overkill with liners, pie weights, and divided baking times. The curd recipe is very nice. Don’t bother trying to strain it through a “fine gauge mesh” as the recipe indicates; it’s far too thick, and you’ll end up with extra dish-washing (I attempted to put it through two different strainers, and it totally clogged the mesh and reduced my yield accordingly). The meringue was indeed very stable when the sugar was first dissolved over boiling water; that was a pleasant surprise. Far less weeping than I typically see. Overall, this recipe took far too much time and too many dishes as written. I will use the curd and meringue ingredients list again, but not the recipe steps.
I’ve been making these for many years for Easter. I especially love the lemon curd. I do usually use my own pie recipe that I use for all pies, so I can’t comment on the crust. The hints the chef makes for busy bakers is helpful.
That is a lot of work for 6 falling apart tarts. I’ll never make that again. Way too many dishes and too much time for such a small, disappointing result.
Felt that it was too sweet, however I did use store bought crust