Raspberry Merengue Tartlets

I made these delicious tarts on bonfire night, even though they take quite a while to make they are delicious to eat sitting around a large fire. One of the best things about these tarts is the merengue topping as its fun to whip and even better to blowtorch the tops and watch then slowly turn brown!

Tart case: 420g plain flour, sifted 50g almond flour, sifted 250g butter, cut into small pieces, slightly softed 180g icing sugar, sifted 1/4 tsp salt 2 eggs 1 vanilla pod Sift the flour and almond flour together in a bowl. Set aside. Combine sugar, salt and butter in a food processor. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and add them to the processor. Pulse everything for a few seconds to mix, then add the eggs one at a time, pulsing another 20s or so each time to work the eggs into the dough. Add 1/3 of the flours, pulse for 30s, repeat twice with remaining flours until you get a homogeneous dough. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate at least one hour. Lightly butter four 4.5" tart tins with removable bottoms. Roll out the dough to 2-3mm thick, line the tart tins with the dough. Trim off the excess of the dough. Refrigerate for at least an hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the dough with baking paper, fill with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the beans and paper and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Raspberry curd: 250g frozen raspberries, thawed 25g cornflour 40ml cold water 1tbsp lemon juice 55g caster sugar 2 egg yolks 25g unsalted butter, cubed Place the raspberries in bowl and mash with fork till it's a homogenous puree. Combine cornflour and cold water in a bowl, stir to combine. Place raspberry puree, cornflour mixture, lemon juice and caster sugar in a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 3-4 minutes or until thick. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add the butter and stir until melted. Remove from the heat. Strain the raspberry mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Allow the raspberry mixture to cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use. Meringue: 45g egg whites 100g caster sugar 25g water Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and heat on low heat. Stir to dissolve sugar (stop stirring once small bubbles start to appear at the side of the saucepan. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until firm peaks form. When sugar syrup reaches 120C, remove from heat and start pouring in a thin stream into the egg whites, all the while mixing with the electric mixer. Continue beating till mixture cools down, and becomes thick and glossy, about 7 minutes. Place in piping bag with piping tip attached. Assembly: Divide the chilled raspberry curd equally among the cooled tart shells. Pipe the meringue on top of the raspberry curd. Torch the meringue with a blowtorch. Serve immediately. Or store in airtight container for about one or two days. (I don't recommend storing them for too long as the tart shells may turn soggy and the meringue may weep after sitting out for a prolonged period)

The original recipe found here.

#golden #autumn