This recipe is for bite-sized Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts that are made from a buttery pastry shell filled with tangy lemon curd and covered with the best torched meringue topping you’ll ever try!
Lemon Meringue Pie is just one of those desserts that you expect to see on every restaurant’s cake display, and with good reason! This recipe is easy to follow and will teach you the steps you need to be serving this classic dessert on your kitchen counter.
If you love tart recipes then have a look at this recipe for Banoffee Tartlets or this recipe for an Apple Crumble Tart.
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Ingredients
To make this delicious dessert you will need the simple ingredients listed below. Remember to always use fresh room temperature ingredients when baking.
- Superfine sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Extra-large eggs
- Cake flour
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Condensed milk
- Lemons
Extra-large eggs – out of their shell, the eggs I use weigh 56 grams, if you aren’t sure if you have the same eggs – weigh the eggs you have and adjust accordingly. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature, this is especially important for the meringue topping.
Vanilla extract – for this recipe use a quality vanilla extract, if you can’t find any, vanilla essence will also work.
Condensed milk – choose a full-fat sweetened condensed milk for this recipe.
Lemons – you will need the juice and the zest of the lemons to make the lemon filling, choose fresh lemons rather than bottled lemon juice.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
To make these mini lemon meringue pies follow the easy steps below. First, you will be making and preparing the pastry shells, then making the lemon curd filling, and lastly the meringue topping.
Instructions for pastry
STEP 1: Cream butter and sugar. Add the butter and sugar to a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is well combined and homogenous.
STEP 2: Add the eggs and vanilla. First, add the whole egg to the creamed mixture with the food processor running, and pulse until combined. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse again.
STEP 3: Add the dry ingredients. Sift together the flour and salt and add this flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms, do not overmix.
STEP 4: Chill dough. Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it in a sheet of plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.
STEP 5: Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 140°C (290°F) and brush 20 mini tart tins with melted butter.
STEP 6: Roll dough. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin.
STEP 7: Prepare tart shells. Cut discs of the rolled pastry slightly larger than the tart tins, place these pastry discs into the buttered tart tins, and use your fingertips to gently press the pastry into the base of the tin and up the sides of the tins.
STEP 8: Blind bake the shells. Line each pastry tin with parchment paper and fill this with uncooked rice or pie weights. Blind bake the shells in a preheated oven for 15 minutes until a light golden brown. Set aside.
Instructions for lemon curd
STEP 1: Mix together the ingredients. In a large mixing bowl add the condensed milk, egg yolks, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest. Whisk to combine.
STEP 2: Fill pastry cases with curd. Spoon the lemon mixture into the pre-baked pastry shells, be sure to fill them almost to the top of the pastry shell.
STEP 3: Bake. Bake the filled lemon tarts in a preheated oven at 160°C (320°F) for 10 - 15 minutes or until the lemon filling is just set.
STEP 4: Cool. Remove the tarts from the oven and allow the tarts to cool for 15 minutes in their tins before removing them from their tins and allowing them to cool completely on a wire rack.
Instructions for meringue
STEP 1: Heat sugar and egg whites. Add the egg whites and sugar to a heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.
STEP 2: Allow the sugar to melt. With the egg white mixture set over a double boiler, whisk continuously until the sugar has melted. Check this by rubbing a bit of the meringue mixture between your fingertips to ensure there are no sugar granules.
STEP 3: Beat. Once melted add the meringue mixture to a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat at medium-high speed for 10 minutes until stiff peaks, the meringue must be thick and glossy.
STEP 4: Pipe meringue. Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain round 1cm (0,4 inches) nozzle with the meringue mixture. Pipe a generous amount of meringue onto each tart, and use a kitchen blow torch to torch the meringue until toasty. Serve, and enjoy!
Hint: Be sure not to overbake the tart shells during their first bake, as they will be baked again with the filling. Slightly golden is enough.
Variations
You can use this recipe to bake a large lemon meringue pie if you’d prefer. You will just need to adjust the baking times.
Making your own pastry can be a little daunting, so if you'd like to skip this then have a look at this recipe for a Biscuit Base Lemon Meringue Pie.
Equipment
To make this tart recipe you will need 20 mini tart tins, if you don’t have 20 you can bake this recipe in batches as I did. Once all the tarts are baked you can begin making the meringue topping. To make these mini tartlets the tart pans I used measure 7cm across the top, 4.5cm across the bottom, and 2cm deep.
You will also need a double boiler, a kitchen torch, a stand mixer or a hand-held electric mixer, and a piping bag. If you don’t have a piping you can choose to spoon the meringue topping onto the tarts instead.
Storage
These mini lemon meringue tarts are best eaten within a few hours after being assembled. If there are leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for about a day or two.
I do not recommend freezing these tarts once assembled. The pastry can be made ahead of time and frozen before baking. To freeze the pastry, wrap it well in plastic wrap and freeze it for 2 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight before rolling and baking.
Top tips
For the best results, follow these top tips to ensure you are baking the perfect mini lemon tarts!
- Allow the pastry to chill properly before rolling it.
- Roll out the pastry until it is thin, this way you will have more space for the lemon filling.
- Check the true temperature of your oven with an oven thermometer.
- Once the meringue topping has finished whipping pipe it onto the tarts immediately.
FAQ
Blind baking is the process of prebaking tart shells before filling them. To ensure the pastry cases remain hollow the pastry is lined with parchment paper and filled with baking beans or rice – which act as weights. The weight of the beans or rice helps prevent the pastry from rising during baking.
The eggs I use weigh 56 grams, if you aren’t sure if you have the same eggs – weigh the eggs you have and adjust accordingly.
These Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts need to make an appearance at your next tea party! If you decide to give this delicious recipe a try, please leave a comment and star rating below – I love hearing from all of you!
Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and follow along @with_love_kitty to make sure you never miss a recipe!
Happy Baking
With Love,
Kitty
📖 Recipe
Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts
Equipment
- 20x mini tart tins 7cm diameter
Ingredients
Pastry
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 100 g superfine sugar
- 1 egg extra large
- 1 egg yolk extra large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 350 g cake flour
- 20 g unsalted butter melted, for brushing tart tins
Lemon Curd Filling
- 2 tins condensed milk 385g per tin
- 3 egg yolks extra large
- 80 ml lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Meringue Topping
- 4 egg whites extra large
- 200 g superfine sugar
Instructions
Pastry
- Add the butter and sugar to a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is well combined and homogenous.
- First, add the whole egg to the creamed mixture with the food processor running, and pulse until combined. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse again.
- Sift together the flour and salt and add this flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms, do not overmix.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it in a sheet of plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 140°C (290°F) and brush 20 mini tart tins with melted butter.
- Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin.
- Cut discs of the rolled pastry slightly larger than the tart tins, place these pastry discs into the buttered tart tins, and use your fingertips to gently press the pastry into the base of the tin and up the sides of the tins.
- Line each pastry tin with parchment paper and fill this with uncooked rice or pie weights. Blind bake the shells in a preheated oven for 15 minutes until a light golden brown. Set aside.
Lemon Curd Filling
- In a large mixing bowl add the condensed milk, egg yolks, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest. Whisk to combine.
- Spoon the lemon mixture into the pre-baked pastry shells, be sure to fill them almost to the top of the pastry shell.
- Bake the filled lemon tarts in a preheated oven at 160°C (320°F) for 15 minutes or until the lemon filling is just set.
- Remove the tarts from the oven and allow the tarts to cool for 15 minutes in their tins before removing them from their tins and allowing them to cool completely on a wire rack.
Meringue Topping
- Add the egg whites and sugar to a heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.
- With the egg white mixture set over a double boiler, whisk continuously until the sugar has melted. Check this by rubbing a bit of the meringue mixture between your fingertips to ensure there are no sugar granules.
- Once melted add the meringue mixture to a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat at medium-high speed for 10 minutes until stiff peaks, the meringue must be thick and glossy.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain round 1cm (0,4 inches) nozzle with the meringue mixture. Pipe a generous amount of meringue onto each tart, and use a kitchen blow torch to torch the meringue until toasty. Serve, and enjoy!
jennifer porter says
Looks so yummy will have a go
withlovekitty2020 says
Hi Jennifer! Thanks so much for your comment, these tarts are delicious, I hope you give them a go and let me know what you thought of them 🙂
Jenny says
Hi Kitty
These were delicious! The pastry is the best, crisp, yet buttery (melt in the mouth) pastry I have ever eaten! The lemon filling was also lovely, but we prefer more tang, so as suggested I added more lemon juice. One suggestion from a proud expat living in Australia, credit this recipe to South African cuisine and not American! In my experience as a 50-something mom is that lemon curd filling using condensed milk is uniquely South African. Americans and Brits use lemon curd (eggs to thicken the lemon juice and sugar) and no condensed milk as filling for lemon meringue. A delightful blog and of course, I will be making more of your recipes! I will also use your tart base for my milk tart! Thank you for your lovely blog!
withlovekitty2020 says
Hi Jenny! Thanks so much for your wonderful comment, Im so glad you liked this recipe. This pastry is something special 🙂
Marianne says
Hi, I loved the recipe but my meringue never worked unfortunately. It wasn’t firm no matter how much I mixed it. Do you think I over heated the egg whites? Thank you for your help.
Marianne
withlovekitty2020 says
Hi Marianne 🙂 I am so glad you loved this recipe! And sorry to hear about the meringue - I'm sure you would have noticed if you overheated it, but also you need to make 100% sure that you didn't have any traces of egg yolks in the whites and that all the utensils you were using were free from any traces of fat. I usually wash my bowls and whisks normally, then rub them with half a lemon and rinse them under very hot water before drying with a clean tea towel just to make sure. I hope this helps