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These Lemon Meringue Pie Tartlets are a mini version of tart and sweet lemon meringue pie but in bite size form.

If you were to scour my site you would have a pretty hard time finding a pie recipe.

I’m just not a pie girl.

I’m not sure if it is because I didn’t really eat them growing up or what.

We were more crisp or betty or grunt people.

I much prefer the crumbly top of a crisp to that of pie dough.

So I will admit some disappointment in the choice of Lemon Meringue Pie for the Daring Bakers Challenge this time around.

Jen (The Canadian Baker) chose this pie, and for good reason, most people actually like Lemon Meringue Pie.

I’m just not most people.


I chose to make  mini tarts.

Which probably was not the best idea.

They would have worked much better if they were just a tad larger than what I made them.

Not much room for the filling. 

Many a Daring Baker complained about running lemon curd.

I didn’t have that problem, I think because of the size of my tarts, they were easier to set up.

The problem I did have was the meringue.

For some bizarre reason mine would not get brown and so I had to bust out the blow torch to make them have color on top.

Know that I halved the recipe and had no problems with that.

I took one bite and it tasted like lemon meringue pie.

Gave the rest to a friend and she liked them very much.

Of course, she is one of the people who likes lemon meringue pie….so that worked out nicely. 🙂

To see many other Lemon Meringue Pies, head on over to the Daring Baker Blogroll.

And as always it’s a great day to buy my cookbook. 


Want More Pie Recipes?

Strawberry Peach Crumb Pie

Double Key Lime Pie

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Apple Slice

Peanut Butter Cup Cream Pie

Hot Buttered Rum Apple Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie Tartlets

Lemon Meringue Pie Tartlets

Yield: Makes one 10-inch pie or about 30 tartlets

Ingredients

  • For the Crust:
  • 3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
  • 2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
  • 1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water
  • For the Filling:
  • 2 cups (475 mL) water
  • 1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch
  • 5 egg yolks, beaten
  • 1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
  • 3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
  • 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
  • For the Meringue:
  • 5 egg whites, room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
  • 1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

Instructions

    To Make the Crust:

    Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible.

    Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.

    Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together.

    Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl.

    Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk.

    Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

    Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll.

    On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. This is for a full size pie.

    Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm).

    Flute decoratively.

    Chill for 30 minutes.

    Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans.

    Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

    Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.

    Cool completely before filling.

    For the tartlet crusts:

    Using a round or fluted Cookie Cutter that is about 2 cm wider than the muffin pan openings, cut out disks of pastry.

    Gently slide each circle of pastry in the mini muffin pan.

    Carefully press on the edge between the bottom and the sides to make sure there are no air bubbles stuck between the pastry and the pan.

    Dock the pastry (prick the bottom of each shell with a fork) then place back in the fridge to chill and rest for at least 2 hour, preferably overnight or up to 24 hours in advance.

    Preheat your oven on 325'F and place the muffin pan in the freezer while the oven is preheating so that the pastry are very cold.

    Line each tartlet shell with a small piece of baking paper (scrunch it up first so that they fit in the shell more easily) and fill them with baking beads or dried beans.

    Bake for 10 minutes, remove the baking weights then bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the tartlet shells are fully baked.

    Leave to cool down completely before filling.

    To Make the Filling:

    Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan.

    Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes.

    Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together.

    Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.

    Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil.

    The mixture will be very thick.

    Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth.

    Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.

    Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated.

    Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined.

    Pour into the prepared crust.

    Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

    To Make the Meringue:

    Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form.

    Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks.

    Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely.

    Bake for 7-12 minutes, or until golden.

    Cool on a rack.

    Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

Notes

rom "Wanda's Pie in the Sky" by Wanda Beaver

© Peabody

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Comments

  2. I agree that tiny tart shells don’t have enough room to hold a lot of filling. But I like that your lemon curd is just peaking out from under the pillow top of meringue. Very pretty.

    Reply

  4. I suppose we can’t all be fans of the lemon meringue; I made a 3 year old cry be trying a bite after telling her she was in for a tasty treat. Still, looks lovely.

    Reply

  6. I agree the filling seemed better in the mini form and that they don’t hold much! I wound up making another pie crust to hold all the extra filling and topped it and gave it away…it seemed much more wobbly that the little ones. Nice job, your pictures are great!

    …and what is a grunt?

    Reply

  8. I’m with you — not a lemon meringue pie lover. But that’s the fun of the DB challenges, I guess — to get you to make things you ordinarily would not. And I find when I bake something that I don’t love, there’s always someone around (often my husband) who’s more than willing to eat it.

    Reply

  13. That is so funny. I just posted mine and also talked about not being a pie person either. They just don’t do it for me.

    But yours does look fantastic.

    Reply

  14. I love Lemon Meringue Pie – this tartlet looks good to me! Wished I could say my filling was as perfect as yours but I had no problem with the meringue.

    Reply

  16. Don’t worry I am not a pie person either. I had to bring my LMP into work for the vultures to eat. If I would not have brought it into work, I probably would have just scraped off all the meringue and filling and ate the crust by itself. 🙂

    Your tart looks wonderful!

    Reply

  19. They look wonderful! I made the smaller tarts too, but I don’t think they were as small as the ones you made. I like the way yours turned out though.

    Reply

  21. Peabody – You did a lovely job on your tarts. I hear you about not being a pie person, I’m not either. I’d much rather eat cookies, brownies or a luscious cake.

    Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

    Reply

  22. I looked for you at midnight and you weren’t quite here yet! That’s a first. And what? No slumps, cobblers, or buckles? 🙂

    Cute tarts, Peabody. I can just picture you with that torch.

    Reply

  30. They look lovely and tempting, even after seeing cute a few LMPs today already, so that´s saying a lot!
    That´s too bad you don´t like lemon meringue pies, they truly are perfect for winter. Have you tried pierre herme´s creamy lemon tart included in Baking from my home to yours? That one doesn´t have meringue and the lemon cream has a completely different texture and flavor, you might like that one.

    Reply

  34. I don’t love lemon meringue in huge quantities so I actually liked the amount of filling in the tart size. Beautiful pictures – the curd just glistens.

    Reply

  35. You weren’t alone in the non-lemon fanclub. There seemed to be quite a few unhappy campers this month. I was pretty happy about it tho! Nannee nannee booboo.
    I actually like the way you swirled the meringue- weird that it didn’t brown tho~ however it is always nice to have an excuse to bring out the blowtorch and scare the hubby.

    Reply

  40. I don’t eat a lot of pie, but I have a soft spot for lemon meringue… I think it might be worth moving in next door to you! ^__^

    By the way – a crisp/betty/grunt? Is this a cross-Atlantic cultural difference? I have no idea what any of those are! Is a crisp presumeably the same as a crumble?

    Reply

  41. If you have any left, I have plenty of takers in my family who would eat it for you. Your little pies look so good that I’m sure you too had a line up of people who wanted them.

    Reply

  42. I made mini pies and had an overload of filling too – its yummy on toast! The blowtorch has given your meingue topping a great even colouring.

    Reply

  44. growing up, i couldn’t stand pie–it was give me cake! now, i am a bit more all-inclusive, but not crazy about the LMP. your little ones are cute, tho.

    Reply

  47. Cute little pies! I wish I would have done the free form version. We’re not lemon pie fans either, but I did take a few bites.
    Love your pics!

    Reply

  52. wow they look amazing… as was to be expected from you! i haven’t tried the blow torch yet, but it seems like a sensible idea, even though my meringue turned out well. great job!

    Reply

  53. If it takes a small tart to hold the filling together, I should have done that! Yours look really cute…and if I ever need lessons on how to use a blowtorch, I now know where to come!

    Reply

  55. Hey, you know I noticed the same thing with my meringue. It took awhile for it to turn a golden colour. And I agree, small tarts was not the way to go with this one.

    Still it looks adorable! I’d eat it …

    Reply

  58. I am so with you about the pie…in general. I am just not a pie person. Your look beautiful! I am also impressed with the use of a blow torch…I mean when all else fails…use the torch!

    Reply

  65. I also had a hard time getting my meringue to brown so only the tips got any color and so it didn’t quite have the crisp topping I would have liked. Must get blowtorch. Great job!

    Reply

  66. The lemon meringue tarts look good! For me the meringue browned really quickly. In fact if I hadn’t been watching the oven they would have been completely burnt by minimum time.

    Reply

  69. Your Lemon Meringue Tart is absolutely beautiful! and Adorable! I just read someone else’s blog that used a mini torch for their meringue and now I am intrigued. I never thought of using my mini torch in this way. Ingenious! =D

    Reply

  70. I completely understand about not being terribly excited about the challenge, I am a pie person… just not a Lemon Meringue Pie person and so, I also decided to make tartlets and I must admit, I actually enjoyed them more than I would have a PIE, I can’t wait for next month’s challenge and see what amazing things you do, you are always so creative ^_^ thanks for inspiration

    Reply

  71. As I read through this month’s posts, it’s interesting to see where people fall along the LMP continuum. Most people seem to have strong feelings — they either love it or they hate it. Relatively few of us occupy the neutral zone.

    For someone leaning toward the hate it camp, you did a great job with this one.

    Reply

  75. My comment is # 74 (!! not even in my wildest dreams could I have that many comments!), but I hope you will read it : well, what can I say, just like the others : amazingly beautiful !!

    Reply

  76. LMP isn’t my favorite, but I’m a huge fan of lemon curd. I wonder how the recipe would change with other fruits… I started to list some but then thought of apple curd, with the texture of this recipe and started thinking maybe this is not the best idea.

    Reply

  77. Sorry lemon meringue pie is not your thing. But what can you do, your a Daring Baker 😉
    They look really wonderful. Good think you had the blow torch, wish I had one 🙂

    Reply

  78. I’m not a lemon meringue pie person either…so I don’t think I made a very good judge of how this pie turned out — tasted like lemon meringue pir to me too! 🙂

    Whatever the case, your mini-tart looks lovely!

    Reply

  93. Such a cute pie and you got to use the blowtorch, so it wasn’t a total bust, right? Besides your friend had probably never had such a nice LMP.

    Reply

  95. I want a blow torch too!! Great job Peabody and your mini pies / tarteletts look just fantastic. I’m not a great LMP lover either but it was still a fun challenge!

    Reply

  104. it is truly a challenge when you aren’t really into making pies…. they came out really cute, i’m glad your friend got to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

    Reply

  108. Peabody!

    I’m catching up on a few months worth of posts you’ve made and had to comment on these little adorable tarts! Do you think I could make them in a mini muffin tin? Maybe I’ll give them a shot next time we visit my MIL – Lemon Meringue is her favorite! Tiff 🙂

    Reply

  109. Well your tartlets are really cute, and I love the blow torch effect (affect?). I’m sorry you don’t like pie. But then I don’t like American pastries.

    Reply

  112. Oh my goodness!!! Excuse me while I drool all over your blog and start saving some of your delicious recipes! Mmmm

    Reply

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