Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts

These super cute mini lemon meringue tarts are the perfect finger food for parties, picnics and play dates.

They are small enough to pop in your mouth whole and reward you with a pop of zesty lemon goodness and creamy sweet meringue.

I am obsessed with the lemon curd I make in my Thermomix. It is so incredibly moreish, and so I am always looking for different things to do with it.

Everyone in our house loves lemon meringue pie, but often when I make a big dessert we end up wasting some of it.

So I decided to make some mini individual lemon meringue pies. so that we could easily share them with our friends. I took these to school pick up one day and they were gone in seconds!

Ingredients for lemon meringue tartlets

It is possible to make these lemon mini tarts completely from scratch - making your own pastry, lemon curd and meringue... or you can cheat a little and use shop-bought pastry and lemon curd.

You'll still need to make the meringue, but that just takes a few minutes. Here's what you'll need, depending on which route you choose:

• Shortcrust pastry - you can totally cheat here and buy shop-bought shortcrust pastry (no judgement here). If you buy it ready rolled in sheets, this lemon meringue tart recipe will be even quicker. If you prefer to make your own, you will just need flour, butter and water. Some shortcrust pastry recipes include sugar too, but I think there is enough sugar in the lemon curd and meringue.
• Lemon Curd - if you have a Thermomix, I highly highly recommend you make this Thermomix Lemon Curd for these mini lemon tarts. It is insanely delicious. If not, you can make any lemon curd recipe - or just buy some, as I said, nobody's judging!
• Meringue - This is the same meringue recipe you would use for making hard meringues (like those in our Eton Mess recipe) - so just egg whites and caster sugar. The only difference is you cook them for less time so they are softer. If you have made your own lemon curd using egg yolks, then you will have some egg whites left behind just asking to be made into meringues.

Tip - if you have any meringue mixture left over, pipe or spoon it onto a baking tray and cook in the oven on low (140C / 280F) for an hour, then leave to cool in the oven and you will have delicious meringue nests.

How to make mini lemon meringue pies

There are three parts to making these lemon meringue mini pies: the pastry, the lemon curd filling and the meringue.

If you choose to make all these things from scratch, it will be quite a time consuming job, and you would be better to make the lemon curd the day before and allow it to set in the fridge overnight.

As the pastry also needs to be made ahead of time and left to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour, you can make this the day before too.

But if you use shop-bought pastry and already have lemon curd made (or bought), then these are actually pretty quick to put together.

Making Shortcrust Pastry

To make pastry, first you sieve flour into a bowl, then drop in small cubes of butter. Next, use your fingertips to lightly mix in the butter and flour until it is uniformly crumbly.

Then use an icing spatula or palette knife to slowly mix in the cold water, a little bit at a time, mixing it together each time.

Finally use your hands to bring the pastry together into a ball of pastry that leaves the bowl clean (but it should not be sticky).

Now wrap it in plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Lemon curd filling

Most of the flavor for these mini lemon meringue tartlets comes from the lemon curd, so make sure you use the BEST lemon curd you can find.

I highly recommend our Thermomix lemon curd if you have a Thermomix. It works perfectly.

I'm not going to repeat the recipe here, so head on over to our Thermomix Lemon Curd Recipe, then come back here when you're ready!

Meringue topping

To make the meringue, first whip up the egg whites with an electric whisk (you can also use a stand mixer). Do this until you can turn the bowl upside down without them falling out.

Then slowly add in the sugar and continue to whip until the meringue mixture forms soft peaks. Do this by mixing in a quarter of the sugar at a time, and mix until you have soft peaks each time.

You should have soft pillowy glossy white meringue mixture.

Making the lemon meringue mini tarts

You will need the following accessories to make these mini lemon curd tarts:

• a rolling pin - unless you are using ready rolled pastry sheets.
• a mini muffin tin
• a cookie cutter - make sure your cookie cutter is the right size for your muffin tin. You want the pastry cups to fill the tin without spilling over. Do a test one before you cut all the pastry circles.
• piping bags - you will need two - one for the lemon curd and one for the meringue. If you don't have any, you could cut the tip off a ziplock bag.
• a large piping nozzle - I use the Wilton 1M for the meringue as it is the perfect size to put a little star-shaped dollop of meringue on top of the tart. I use the Wilton 1A for piping in the lemon curd.

Firstly, pre-heat your oven and lightly grease your muffin tin.

Next, roll out your pastry until fairly thin - probably around 2mm thick. Now cut out circles in the pastry using your cookie cutter.

Press each circle of pastry lightly into the muffin tin. Try to prevent any air pockets remaining underneath the pastry.

Now take a fork and prick the pastry a few times on each circle. This will prevent the pastry from puffing up. You need to make sure you will have little cups once they are baked.

(If they do puff up during baking, gently press them down again when you take them out of the oven - use a clean tea towel to prevent your finger getting burnt).

Now put them in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes until they are starting to brown. Take them out of the muffin tin and allow them to cool.

Tip: you can make the pastry cases ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container until ready to use.

Next fill a piping bag with lemon curd and fill each pastry case with a spoonful of the lemon curd.

Then fill another piping bag with the meringue and pipe a little dollop of meringue on top of each tart.

Now put them in the oven and cook for just 5 minutes, or until the meringue topping is a beautiful golden brown.

Allow them to cool ... and then share with friends. (Or eat them all yourself... remember, no judgement here...)

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