Petite Lemon Meringue Pies

This is a very quick post, but I had to make something for Aparna’s -Bite Sized desserts for Sugar High Friday. Life has been very very hectic here and so I could not manage to send my entry by Friday. Aparna has been very kind and is accepting my late entry too. Thanks Aparna for hosting as well as extending the deadline for me. 🙂

Petite Lemon Meringue Pies– I found the name itself quite refreshing when I first saw the recipe in the book Petite Sweets by Beatrice Ojakangas. Incidentally, I won this book (some time back) at a Giveaway hosted by Aparna. I have been meaning to post some of the recipes I have tried from this lovely book but somehow have not been able to do that.

Bite sized desserts for Sugar high Fridaywas the perfect occasion to make one of the cute looking desserts from this book and to Thank Aparna for introducing me to the cute bite sized dessert wonderland.

I chose the Petite Lemon Meringue Pies since I had a bottle of Lemon curd (from Fabindia) saved for a ‘Special Occasion’. I also had some homemade Mascarpone,I found Lemons (not limes) at the local supermarket and I had some petite glass bakeware. The only apprehension I had was the meringues, since I have never made one and did not know how ‘eggy’ it would taste. My doubts were put to rest the moment I took out the first pie from the oven and my son instantly gave a Thumbs up to the pie.

I made a small batch of 8-9 petite pies (I actually halved the original recipe). I had some problems with the temperature and the meringues were browned more than I would have liked, but the refreshing citrusy flavor of the pies more than made up for that. My photos do not do much justice to the sinful lemony morsels, but they are absolutely delightful, so go on and try the recipe and let me know about it.

Meanwhile I am sending this to my dear Friend Aparna for Bite Sized Desserts.

Here’s the recipe:

As adapted from Petite sweets by Beatrice Ojakangas

(I halved the recipe and got about 8 small Lemon pies)

Petite Lemon Meringue Pies

Print Recipe

Petite Lemon Meringue Pies Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 3/4 Cup All purpose flour th
• 2 tbsp butter cut up (I used salted )
• 1 tsp sugar (I used Vanilla )
• 1 small eggyolk
• xbd tsp Lemon juice fresh
• 2 tsp ice water

For the Lemon filling:

• xbd cup Lemon curd
• xbd cup Mascarpone at room temperature

For the Meringue:

• 1 Eggwhite
• 1 tbsp sugar

Servings:

Instructions

For the Pastry:

1. Preheat the oven to 200oC or 400oF.
2. Prepare small muffin pans or like I used petite glass bake ware.
3. Pulse the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor till it resembles coarse meal.
4. Turn mixture into a mixing bowl.
5. In a separate bowl mix together egg yolk,lemon juice and icewater.
6. Sprinkle the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and mix till the dough holds together without being sticky or wet.
7. Knead and shape into a ball.
8. Flatten into a disk, wrap and chill for 30 mins.
9. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about xbc-inch thickness.
10. With a 3-inch round cookie cutter cut rounds and fit into the muffins/baking moulds.
11. Pierce bottom with fork and for ~10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
12. Cool before filling.

For the lemon filling:

1. Beat the Lemon curd and Mascarpone till smooth.
2. Spoon about 1 tbsp of the mixture into each of the baked pie shells.

For the Meringue:

1. Preheat oven to 180oC or 350oF
2. Meanwhile, beat the egg white until frothy.
3. Gradually beat in the sugar until the mixture is glossy- meringue like.
4. Spoon or pipe the meringue onto each pie and bake for ~ 10 minutes (it took~12-13 minutes for me) or just until lightly browned.
5. Cool and serve.

Recipe Notes