Hello everyone. Welcome back to another delicious and amazing lactose free recipe. This week’s recipe is as delicious as it is adorable. Mini meringue pie bites are the perfect little morsel of food. A beautiful flower shaped pastry filled with a zesty curd and topped with a sweet meringue.
As always, I have tested this recipe many times and found it to be successful providing you keep to the recipe. Plus, it works amazing with lactose free products. This recipe is lactose free providing you use the right ingredients. Always make sure your ingredients are safe.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 100g Lactose free margarine (Nutlex is my preferred brand)
- 175g Plain flour (pastry flour is preferred)
- 1tbs Icing sugar
- 1 Egg yolk (save the white)
- 1 tbs Cold water
- 24-capacity Mini muffin tin
- Flower cookie cutter
Lemon Curd
- 2tbs Cornflour
- 100g Caster sugar
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 125ml Strained Lemon juice (from 2 to 3 lemons)
- 1 Orange (juiced and strained)
- 85g Lactose free margarine (Nutlex)
- 1 Egg
- 3 Egg yolks (put the leftover egg white into a clean & dry bowl with the other egg white)
Meringue
- 4 Egg whites (these are the whites that have been saved from the curd and the pastry)
- 2 tsp Cornflour
- 200g Caster sugar (roughly 1 cup)
Steps
Lightly grease a 24-capacity mini muffin tin.
Place all the ingredients for the pastry in a food processor.
Blend until the mixture just starts to form a dough ball.
Remove the pastry from the processor and sprinkle your work surface with flour.
Use a floured rolling pin and roll the dough out so it is thin (1/2 a cm). Use a small heart cookie cutter to cut out some flower shaped pastries.
Position each flower directly over the muffin holes.
Use your finger and gently press into the centre of the flower to press it down into the hole. Press gently around the bottom to make sure it is flat against the bottom and sides.
Continue cutting out the pastries and placing them into the muffin tin until all spots are filled. Use a fork to gently prick the bottom of the pastries several times. If you have any leftover pastry, you can wrap it in clingwrap to use for a second batch of shells if you wish.
Place the tin into your fridge. Leave them to rest for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c.
When the pastries have chilled in the fridge for the right amount of time you can pop them into the oven for 8 to 10 minutes until they are lightly golden brown.
Remove the pastry shells and place onto a baking tray to cool down.
Lower the oven temp to 160 when you are done with the pastry.
Moving on to the lemon curd. The first step is to prepare the egg mixture. Place the egg yolks and the egg into a bowl and whisk well. Set aside to be used later.
Place the cornflour, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a medium saucepan. Stir well.
Place the orange juice into a measuring jug, add water to the juice until it reaches 200ml. Add this to the lemon mixture and put on a medium heat while stirring constantly.
As soon as the curd starts to bubble remove the saucepan from the heat and add the margarine. Whisk well until the margarine has been fully incorporated into the mixture.
Tip the egg mixture into the curd while constantly whisking.
Place the saucepan back onto the heat. Stir constantly until the mixture becomes thick. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Moving onto the meringue.
Place the egg whites into a clean dry bowl with the cornflour. A stand mixer is preferred but you can use a handheld mixer if you wish.
Beat on a high speed until just foamy.
Start to add the sugar a tsp at a time while continuously beating.
Beat until the meringue forms stiff peaks.
Spoon the meringue into a piping bag fitter with a large star piping tip.
Spoon the curd into a piping bag, Cut a very small amount of the tip away so there is a small hole.
Gently pipe the curd into each of the pastry shells, be careful not to overfill the shells.
Pipe a dot of meringue onto the curd.
Gently place the tray into the oven and bake for around 10 minutes until they are beautiful and golden.
Serve and enjoy.
Thank you very much for reading this recipe.
