Individual Lemon Meringue Pies

So cute!

I also got a mini blow torch for Christmas and it was a toss up between lemon meringue pie or creme brulee. I think I made the right decision! The pastry and filling is from Gregg Wallace's favourite puddings, but he uses normal meringue and I wanted to do Italian.

I only have four mini tins, but this recipe will make 6 or one big one.

Ingredients:

300g plain flour

150g butter, diced and chilled

50g caster sugar

75g ground almonds

1 egg yolk, beaten

2-3 tblsp iced water

6 tblsp cornflour

75g sugar

350ml water

finely grated zest of three lemons and the juice of two

3 egg yolks

160g granulated sugar

3 egg whites

60ml water

Method:

-Make the pastry. Sift the flour in to a bowl, add the butter and rub lightly until breadcrumby. Stir in the sugar and nuts and add a pinch of salt. Using a round ended knife, mix in the yolk and enough water to make a dough.

-turn on to a floured board and knead briefly. divide in to 4/6/one whole and roll out to line the tins you are using. Chill the tin(s) in the fridge for 30 mins. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200C.

- line the pastry with pieces of baking paper and baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the lining and beans and return to the oven to cook for a further 5 mins until golden. Remove and cool.

- to make the filling, mix the cornflour and sugar together in a saucepan. Add the water, zest and juice and stir well. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl, add two tablespoons of the lemon mix to the eggs and beat, then add the eggs to the lemony saucepan. Cook, whilst stirring until the mixture has thickened further. Leave to cool for a bit, then fill your tart cases!

- Now for the meringue! Place the whites in to a heatproof, clean bowl.

-put the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat on the lowest setting until the sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, whack up the heat and boil until it reaches 110 on the thermometer. Once it does, whisk the egg whites until they become stiff. Once the syrup reaches 118, pour it in to the egg whites in a thin stream, whisking all the while.

- continue to whisk on high until the bowl has cooled. Once cool and stiff and meringuey, pipe on to the cold lemon tarts in any way you fancy. Stick under a hot grill or have fun with a blowtorch!

Hazelnut and Dark Chocolate Meringues

Strawberries, nutty meringue and chocolate. Hello.

Due to my week of cakes with accompanying custards, I had a few more egg whites to use up. A friend who I hadn't seen for ages was coming over for dinner and I only had a snippet of time to get things ready after work - so, meringue it was! I always have a few things in the cupboard; some baking essentials, dark chocolate and some form of nut. The only sensible conclusion was a crisp, chewy on the inside nutella inspired chocolate hazelnutty tastiness. 

I always measure in imperial for a meringue - 2oz of sugar for each white

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

6 oz caster sugar

a tablespoon of cornflour

tsp white wine vinegar

50 g dark chocolate, chopped

a good handful of hazelnuts, chopped (I dry roasted mine in a pan for a bit first as they weren't roasted). 

-Heat the oven to gas 1/2 /- 100C. Have ready 2 baking sheets lined with greaseproof.

- using an electric whisk, whisk the whites until they form soft peaks

-Add half of the sugar and whisk on high- it will go super shiny and smooth.

- Add the rest of the sugar along with the cornflour and vinegar. Continue whisking for a minute or so until very stiff and shiny. Super luxurious marshmallowy deliciousness.

- Gently fold in the nuts and chocolate with a large metal spoon. 

- distribute in to pillowy piles on the sheets and bake for around an hour.

I served mine with a few tiny strawberries and a whisper of cream.

Macaroons mark deux

So! My first attempt turned out quite well- they didn't look quite right, had a lack of 'feet', weren't overly shiny or smooth, but they tasted good.

Like many others out there, I have decided that I would like to be able to bake at least a passable macaron. Ground almonds are one of my favourite ingredients as I love the texture and almond is one of my favourite flavours. Nom.


So, after Monday night's marmalade pudding and custard I had some egg whites to use up. After work on the Tuesday I had an hour or so before the pub quiz and decided that would leave me ample time to mix the paste, make the Italian meringue, pipe and have some dinner. HA! Well, I did it- a few were a little larger and more messy than the others, but really I just wanted to practice texture, consistency and baking. Back from the pub at 12 having done terribly at the quiz, I got them in the oven. Here they are.

As you can see, better than the first go, but still not quite smooth enough. Also, I used the main and top oven, causing the top oven to be notably hotter which discoloured that batch, but they still tasted the same.


Ingredients:
170g icing sugar
160g ground almonds
120ml egg whites from about 4 medium eggs, separated in to two equal batches
160g granulated sugar
drop of food colouring - I used red
Method:
-blitz the almonds and icing sugar together until fine. Sift in to a large bowl (you will need to mix everything in this bowl eventually). Add one lot of whites to this and mix to make the paste. Set aside
- Get the other egg whites ready in a heat proof bowl with an electric whisk to hand. Place the granulated sugar and and 50ml of water in to a small saucepan. Heat until dissolved then boil until the syrup reaches 110C. Beat the eggs on high to form stiff peaks. When the syrup gets to 118C carefully and slowly pour it in to the eggs. Continue to whisk on hight. They will go thick and shiny. Continue until the meringue is cool. Add the colour and mix.
- add the meringue to the paste and fold together. It should be thick and smooth- if you over mix it it will spread and not rise.
- heat the over to gas 3/150C. Line 3 pans with baking paper. Pipe the mixture in to small circles 2.5cm in diameter. Smack them hard on the counter to dislodge air bubbles and leave to rest out of the fridge for 30 minutes. This supposedly helps to form a skin and improve shine.
-Bake for 15 minutes. Slide the paper on ta cool work surface for a few minutes before peeling them off the paper. If the shell comes off and they stick, they are underdone. Return to the oven for a few more mins and try again.
- Leave to cool then fill with jam or butter cream or ganache or whatever. I used raspberry jam on some and nutella on others.


I found that all of my macarons were under baked after 15 minutes, and still after a few more. The batch that turned out the best were the ones that I decided to leave in the oven overnight after I had turned it off. These ones had a flat and attached underside, perfect for piping the filling. This leads me to wonder if baking them should involve a combination f a high heat to aid rising, and then a low heat to dry them out- like a traditional meringue. I shall toy with this theory next time.


Recipe from June 2011 Good Food magazine