Home

Meringue Tart

17/11/2023

The meringue tart is a refined and elegant dessert that combines the crunchiness of shortcrust pastry with the softness of cream and the lightness of meringue. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

  • For the shortcrust pastry:

    • 250 g of type 00 flour
    • 125 g of cold butter, cubed
    • 100 g of powdered sugar
    • 1 large egg
    • 1 pinch of salt
    • Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

  • For the pastry cream:

    • 500 ml of whole milk
    • 4 egg yolks
    • 100 g of sugar
    • 40 g of type 00 flour or cornstarch
    • 1 vanilla pod or vanilla essence

  • For the Italian meringue:

    • 150 g of sugar
    • 50 ml of water
    • 3 egg whites
    • A pinch of salt

Preparation

  1. Start with the shortcrust pastry: in a bowl, mix the flour with powdered sugar and salt. Add the cold, cubed butter and work the mixture with your fingertips until it becomes crumbly. Add the egg and lemon zest, quickly knead until it forms a ball. Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

  2. Roll out the dough into a tart tin, prick it with a fork, and blind bake (covered with parchment paper and dry beans or specific baking weights) at 180 °C for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment paper and let it brown for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool.

  3. For the pastry cream, heat the milk with the split vanilla pod to release the seeds. In a bowl, whisk the yolks with sugar until you have a frothy mixture. Incorporate the sifted flour, then add the hot milk through a strainer. Return everything to the heat, stirring until the cream thickens. Once ready, cover with cling film touching the surface and let it cool.

  4. For the Italian meringue, bring the water and sugar to a boil until it reaches 121 °C (use a cooking thermometer). Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are frothy. When the syrup reaches the temperature, pour it in a thin stream onto the egg whites, continuing to whisk until you get a glossy and firm meringue.

  5. Assemble the tart: pour the pastry cream onto the base of the shortcrust pastry, level it well, and cover with the meringue, which you can shape as you like with a spatula or piping bag.

  6. Finally, slightly burn the surface of the meringue with a kitchen torch to caramelize it and give it that typical golden color.

Curiosity

The meringue can be made in different variants, such as French or Swiss, but for the meringue tart, the Italian meringue is preferred because, thanks to the sugar syrup cooking, it is more stable and shiny and lends itself very well to the final caramelization.

Here you have a delicious meringue tart ready to be enjoyed!

Meringue Tart