Mini Lemon Tarts
I made these cute little tarts for a fashion show at K-State benefitting the Make a Wish Foundation. I love the way they turned out, mini desserts are always a favorite of mine. I used a mini tart pan that I have from Williams Sonoma, but I actually am not a huge fan of it because it does not easily leave room for filling. I would recommend using this tart pan or a mini muffin tin
. You could definitely make these using any type of citrus that you’d like – I obviously chose lemon. I bought a Meyer lemon tree about a year ago, and it has made me appreciate lemons in a whole new way. Nothing helps you appreciate food quite like growing it yourself!
Makes 30 (2″) mini tarts
Recipe adapted from: Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
- Pre-packaged pie crust (enough for two pies)
- 8 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 cup lemon juice (approximately 8 lemons)
- 2 cans (14 oz. each) sweetened condensed milk
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Using a round cookie cutter slightly bigger than the diameter of your tarts, cut out 30 circles. Press the crust into the mold and poke the dough a few times with a fork to keep it from puffing up too much.
- Bake the tart shells for 10 minutes, or until very slightly golden.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, and salt.
- Once the tart shells are out of the oven and have cooled slightly, place them on a baking sheet. Fill them with 1 tablespoon of the lemon mixture, or until the tart shell is just barely full.
- Bake for approximately 6-9 minutes, or until the filling in the center of the tarts is no longer jiggly.
- Once the tarts have cooled, cover and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, or preferably overnight.
- In a very clean bowl, whip the egg whites (using a whisk or an electric mixer with the whisk attachment) until they have reached the soft-peak stage. Slowly add in the powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue to whisk until they just reach the firm-peak stage.
- Using a piping bag (or Ziploc® bag with a hole cut in the corner), pipe the meringue on top of the tarts.
- Place under the broiler until the meringue is golden brown, about 30 seconds.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
PS – if you have any filling leftover, pour it into a baking dish and bake it! You can spread it on cakes or scones, stir it into ice-cream, or just eat with a spoon! Yum!