French Lemon Tarts

Polly Wang

As a food writer, when I think of cooking for a potluck, my competitive side spurs me to absolutely wow the people I’m cooking for. These French lemon tarts are sure to delight and amaze anyone, with simple, bright flavors, and fun twists that I’ve created. This tart recipe is officially Bite Blog-approved, and was the perfect treat to bring to our annual potluck. If a room full of food journalists enjoyed it, you know these tarts are great. 

I faced a unique challenge of making these tarts without the proper mold, however, I just used muffin molds to shape the tart shells and they somehow work. In the future though, I would recommend using a full proper tart pan for a more consistent look and ease of decoration. I also didn’t have access to a stand mixer, so I ended up asking my friend to whip the meringue by hand – again, I would recommend using a proper stand mixer to save yourself 30 minutes of hard labor! Still, with these challenges, the tarts came out satisfying, and I will definitely be making them again in the future.

Lemon tarts with meringue

  Pâte Sucrée

Ingredients

  1. 250g all purpose flour

  2. 100g butter

  3. 150g powdered sugar

  4. 60g egg (~1 large egg; beaten)

  5. extra flour, beaten egg, and butter at room temperature

Recipe

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit / 180 degrees Celsius

  2. Put the flour and butter in a big bowl or on a sanitized counter, use a dough cutter with straight blade to "cut" the butter and mix it with the flour

  3. Then, use the tips of the fingers, pinch and rub the mixture together until it reaches a sandy texture

The ideal texture for the beginning of the pâte sucrée

4. If processing on a counter, make a "fountain"-like hole in the middle, and add in the beaten egg. Use the dough cutter to gradually incorporate the mixture without breaking the "fountain" until the egg stops moving. Then, mix everything together (it does not have to form a ball yet)

5. If in a bowl, add the egg directly into the mixture and mix everything together with your hand without overworking the dough.

6. Spread a small amount of flour, move everything on the counter, "fraiser" the dough by put the wrist of the hand on the counter with the dough in front and the hand at a 45 degree angle. Press the dough forward. Finally, gather it into a ball. 

7. Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap to prevent it from going dry, put it in the fridge/freezer for 10 minutes

8. Butter the bottom of the muffin mold

9. Take out the dough, spread some flour, roll the dough into a thickness of 2mm

10. Move the dough on a cutting board, cut the dough with something circular, the dimensions should be around 1 inch wider than the bottom of the muffin mold (just make sure that the dough won't touch each other when you place the dough on the bottom). 

11. Prick the dough gently with a fork

12. Put the dough back in the freezer for 10 minutes

13. Take out the dough, place them gently at the center of each bottom of the muffin mold, as shown in the picture

A creative way to use a muffin tin to mold tart shells

14. Put the muffin mold with the dough back to the freezer for 10 minutes

15. Bake for ~10 minutes until it reaches golden color. Quickly unmold with a fork. Egg wash the inside of the shells while the shells are still hot.

16. (optional) use a zester to smoothen the edge of the shell and to make the height even

17. Put the shells on a plate and cover them with a plastic wrap. 

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

1. 135g Lemon juice 

2. 150g Egg (~3 medium size)

3. 120g Sugar 

4. 150g Butter

5. 3 Lemon zest

Recipe (30 minutes)

Begin cooking the lemon curd once the tart shells have cooled so you can immediately fill them.

1. Zest the lemon and cube your butter.

2. Mix the egg and sugar until incorporated well, then mix in the zest and lemon juice

3. Pour the mixture in a pot

4. Whisk the mixture while on low-medium heat. Once it starts bubbling whisk even faster, for about ~1 minute until it reaches a thick texture

5. Add in the butter, mix until well incorporated

6. Pour in the mixture to the shells. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours

Tart shells filled with lemon curd. Thanks to Jonathan, our Bite photographer for these photos!

French Meringue

Ingredients:

1. 90g Egg white (~3 medium size eggs)

2. 150-180g granulated sugar

3. A splash bit of lemon juice / white vinegar

Recipe (30 minutes by hand, 10 minutes with an electric mixer)

1. Prepare a clean, dry bowl, add in the egg white and lemon juice

2. Beat the egg white until it started to get foamy

3. Add in 1/3 of the sugar, beat until it gets even more foamy

4. Add in 1/3 of the sugar, beat until it gets the silky texture

5. Add in the rest of the sugar, beat until you can turn the bowl upside down yet the egg white won't fall down. (Basically that if you lift up the whisk, the egg white would not fall down)

Hand mixing French meringue

6. Decorate the tart with the meringue

7. Torch the meringue slightly without burning it (if you have a torch) 

8. Decorate with some lime zest, mint/thyme/any greens

Finished meringue tarts

Melanie WangComment