Happy Kitchen Treats: July 2012

Lemon Meringue Tart

I never felt brave enough to try a lemon meringue tart. It's like.. In a series, where there is always a boy and a girl, and they're obviously crazy about each other, but afraid to go with their feelings because they don't want to mess up a relationship that means SO much to them. Yup- that's me and lemon meringue tart. And this is just the beginning of our happy ending.

If I'm lemon meringue's soul mate, then Ane must be it's best friend. Sure I can bake it, but she's the one that REALLY appreciates it and reminds me to do the same. Actually, she REALLY appreciate a lot of food. Maybe she is food's best friend? Any friend of food is a friend of mine :-)

Ane came over for a girls sulking evening one night, and I had just found a new lemon meringue recipe by The Food Fox. It was very simple and anything with lemon and condensed milk has my vote (or just condensed milk and a spoon, or just the can.. JUST GIVE IT TO ME)

I've been crushing on The Food Fox lately. It's a South African food blog, so I don't have to worry about being able to get the ingredients and the correct measurements, and it's GORGEOUS. Like this blog is in my dreams :-). I loved this recipe- so easy to follow, so.. doable!

Anyway- that one disappeared so quickly that I didn't get a single photo. Then I decided to make another and experiment a bit. I love sour, so I wanted it to have a distinct sour kick to it. I also wanted the base to go all the way up the walls of my pie dish, and I wanted more filling and more topping.

Lemon Meringue Tart
Adapted from The Food Fox

250 g Tennis biscuit
approx 120 g melted butter

2 cans condensed milk (Each can is 385 g)
300 ml lemon juice (If you like it really sour lemony- feel free to add a bit more)
4 egg yolks

6 egg whites
250 ml castor sugar
5 ml vanilla essence
5 ml lemon juice

1) Preheat the oven to 180 C
2) Take the Tennis biscuits and put them in a bowl

3) Crush these until they are just tiny crumbs

4) Now, melt the butter, and add bit by bit. The idea is to keep adding butter until the biscuits stick to the walls nicely. Just take a spoon, and press it against a the wall of the bowl and see if it stays to test.

5) Press the now complete base into your pie dish.

6) Next, pour the condensed milk into another bowl. While whisking, add the lemon juice bit by bit.

7) Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl (remember to save the whites), then add them. This will make the mixture nice and yellow.

8) Now, pour the mixture into the base.

9) Bake for 20 minutes.
10) While it's baking, make the topping.
11) Whisk the egg whites to stiff peak stage. Then add the sugar bit by bit, until it's creamy and shiny.