Meyer Lemon Tart and Pavlovas with Mixed Berries
So, it has been a while... I’ve been doing some major slacking when it comes to this blog. My Uncle Tony has kindly pointed out quite a few times that I need to shape up haha! So it is only fitting that on his birthday, February 20th, I made these two desserts to post on the blog. I am cheating a little bit here by using fruit that isn’t from our farm, but sadly everything we had from this year is gone, and my frozen fruit stash was claimed by the second power outage of 2011, thanks a lot Winter Storm Alfred.
I have always been curious about meyer lemons, they seem so fancy and exotic. Meyer lemons are thought to be the result of a cross between true lemons and either a mandarin or an orange. I was therefore under the impression that they would be a sweeter lemon than I was used to, however that wasn’t my experience. Perhaps meyer lemons are supposed to be sweeter, but I am not in the best situation geographically to experience them at their finest. Sour as they were they did make a beautiful tart!
This tart, which calls for quite a few egg yolks left me a good deal of unused egg whites. I am from a family that wastes not, and so I couldn’t just toss the unused whites, but instead decided to make something I have only had a handful of times, pavlova, or meringue. Meringue topped with berries is a surprisingly satisfying dessert, you would think that egg whites and sugar wouldn’t make anything too special, but you’d be wrong. The crunchy exterior coupled with the pillow-y center of a meringue is wonderful, it reminds me of cotton candy, but with more texture, it is like cotton candy for adults, if you will. So I hope you will give these two special desserts a try!
Meyer Lemon Tart
Crust: (is adadpted from the SoNo Baking Company Cookbook)
2 cups flour
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
⅓ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
Filling:
7 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
zest from 2 meyer lemons
⅔ cup meyer lemon juice
½ tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter (cut into 4 pieces)
To make the crust add butter, sugar, and salt into an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together until light yellow and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk to the mixture and beat until combined. Lastly add flour and mix until all flour has been moistened. Scoop dough out onto the counter and form into a cohesive disc, refrigerate until firm about 45 minutes to an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Once dough is firm roll out to desired thickness and fit into tart pan, make sure to prick the bottom with a fork. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
For the filling, whisk together egg yolks and whole eggs in a medium sauce pan, add sugar, meyer lemon juice, zest, and salt, and set to medium low heat. Once warm add the butter, and allow to melt. Cook on medium low heat until the mixture thickens slightly and holds on to the wooden spoon (should be about 170 degrees). Strain mixture through a metal seive and place mixture in cooked tart shell, put back in the 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the center of the tart sets. Top with berries and enjoy!
Pavlova
7 large egg whites (reserved from the tart, and at room temperature)
1 tbsp corn starch
½ tsp cream of tartar
1 ⅓ cup sugar
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixture combine egg whites, corn starch, and cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment, whisk first on low speed and then gradually increase speed at the frothiness of the eggs increases, whisk until soft peaks are reached. Slow the speed of the whisk, and add sugar, whisk again on high speed until firm peaks are reached. Take a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and make six large mounds with the egg white mixture, creating a small indentation in the center of each. Place in the oven and immediately reduce heat to 250 degrees, bake for about 50 minutes, turning once in the middle of baking. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then top with mixed berries and enjoy!
