Best Lemon Meringue Tart with Mascarpone
This is the Best Lemon Meringue Tart with Mascarpone. It is not the usual classic Lemon Meringue Tart. I made this one a little bit special with the addition of mascarpone cheese.
Best Lemon Meringue Tart with Mascarpone
I am totally hooked on mascarpone cheese.It makes everything super delicious. This tart is one where you make everything from scratch.
Yes, I know I said I am a lazy cook. Let’s just say this tart is a “labour” of love. I didn’t really mind the extra work. Besides it wasn’t too labour intensive.
It is an easy tart to make, except it has a few steps to it. You will thank me when you eat it.
What is Lemon Meringue Tart
It is a buttery pastry crust filled with a lemon custard and topped with a meringue. It is tangy and sweet with a marshmallow like topping.
Crust
A lot of recipes use biscuits as the base for Lemon Meringue Tart. However, I preferred to make my own buttery crust.
It really is not difficult to make. I popped my butter and flour in a food processor. You can use your hands too.
You pulse it until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add water, little bits at a time. You do need fridge cold water. Although I say 1/4 cup you may not need it all.
The dough must be pulsed just until it comes together. Pastry dough should never be overworked. The dough is then rolled out.
Place it in a tart dish and refrigerate for an hour. The pie crust is then blind baked before adding the filling.
Filling
The classic lemon fillings do not have condensed milk or mascarpone cheese. In fact the mascarpone cheese is my own little spin on this delicious tart.
Ingredients required for the filling is mascarpone cheese, egg yolks, lemons and condensed milk
Meringue
I decided to make a swiss meringue for this tart. The reason is that I find when I bake my meringue in the oven it always weeps.
No matter what I have tried it still weeps. But with this method, using the swiss meringue I haven’t had any weeping.
If you don’t have a blow torch you can pop it into the oven. You may have better luck with the weeping than I have.
With my years of making a Lemon Meringue Tart I find that it is best made and eaten the same day. Although it can stay in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Alternatively you can bake it until the filling stage and do the meringue bit when ready to serve.
More Holiday Desserts to try:
Decadent No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
Romany Creams with Chocolate Mousse
Lemon Meringue Tart with Mascarpone
Ingredients
Crust
- 125 gram/1/2 cup butter
- 1&1/4 cup cake wheat or all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup fridge cold water
Filling
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 x 385 gram condensed milk
- 250 gram mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Meringue
- 5 egg whites
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
Instructions
The Crust
- Place flour and butter in a food processor, pulse just until it resembles a coarse meal. Add a tablespoon of water at the time and pulse a couple of times after every tablespoon. Stop pulsing when the dough clumps together.
- Roll out the dough. Place in a tart dish or a tart pan with a removable base. Trim the edges. Refrigerate for an hour
- After an hour remove from fridge. Prick a few holes in the base, with a fork. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the pastry. Cover with baking beans or any beans or rice. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. After 20 minutes remove the beans and parchment paper. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until the pastry is slightly brown
- Remove from oven and set aside
Filling
- Bring the mascarpone to room temperature. Seperate the eggs. Be careful not to mix any yolk with the egg whites
- Add the mascarpone, condensed milk and lemon juice and lemon zest to the bowl with the egg yolks. Use a whisk or an electric mixer and mix well until it's smooth
- Pour the filling into the pastry shell and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are set and the middle is slightly jiggly
- Allow to cool and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight
Meringue
- Fill a saucepan, about halfway, with water and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and place on top of the saucepan
- Whisk continuously for 3-4 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved. Rub some of the mixture between your fingers to ensure all the sugar has dissolved. The mixture should be warm to the touch
- Remove from heat and beat with an electric mixer or a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment on medium to high speed until stiff peaks form. It will be shiny and glossy
- Pipe or spoon the meringue on top of chilled tart. Use a blow torch to caramelize the meringue. Alternatively you can place it back in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes or until the meringue is slightly browned. If you are baking it in the oven again your filling can be slightly warm and you have to spread the meringue right along the edges to seal the meringue and the base together. Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
Notes
- Although I prefer to serve the lemon meringue on the day it's made it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
- You can make the crust in advance if you want to save time. You can also use tennis biscuits as the base, you will need about 85gram of melted butter
- I've used 1/3 cup of lemon juice which makes a less tangy tart and I used 1/2 cup if I wanted a more intense lemon flavor. It all depends on your taste. If you do not want too much lemon I think stick with 1/3 cup but if you don't mind an intense lemon flavor then 1/2 cup is perfect
- The quantity of sugar I used was just fine for our tastebuds. I find other tarts with way too much sugar. Here again you can use your discretion
- For the base I didn't add sugar and it worked fine. I also didn't add salt as I always use salted butter
Devine!!!!!
Thank you so much:-)