Lemon Tart with Mile High Meringue

My mother always made the best lemon meringue pies. After she passed, I tried to find her recipe but to no avail. I attempted making one from an online recipe and it was a complete failure. The meringue was loose and runny. I never made another.

One blogger I admire greatly is Kayley from The Kitchen McCabe. Not only do I love her photography, but the recipes I have tried have all been winners. When she posted this one recently, I was inspired to try again, in honor of my Mom. Check out her picture of this recipe. I have photography envy.

Just before I gathered the ingredients for this, my dear friend, Dr. Ryan Krch brought me a bag of Rangpurs, from his father’s tree. He mentioned that his mother always used them in her lemon meringue pies. Since I had never even heard of a rangpur, I thought I would substitute these for the lemons in the recipe.

As a side note, if you are in need of any skin or cosmetic work, I highly recommend using Krch Aesthetic Medicine. Ryan is such a good friend, a skilled physician and is extremely trustworthy.

The Rangpur lime is said to have originated in the Indian subcontinent and has nothing to do with limes. It is bright orange, about the size of a clementine and a cross between a lemon and a mandarin. It is easy to peel and segment. The juice is extremely sour, like a lemon’s, but with a deeply floral honeysuckle aroma. Apparently you can use the leaves in cooking too. Who knew?

The crust is a combination of flour, butter and confectioners sugar. Though crumbly, it surprisingly held together when pressed into the tart pan.

The crust requires parbaking. I keep a Ziplock bag of reusable dried beans just for this purpose. Lining the crust with parchment paper, I filled the pan with beans.

After removing the pie weights (beans), the crust bakes for another 5-8 minutes to a light brown color.

The filling is a combination of eggs, sugar, lemon (or rangpur) juice, salt, butter, heavy or coconut cream and vanilla.

Whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar until combined. Add the lemon juice, salt and then eventually the butter pieces. Check out our freshly laid eggs~~the color of the yolk is nothing short of magnificent!

The filling thickens rather quickly so make sure you keep whisking during this phase. Bake the filling in the crust to set it. Once the filling is cool, cover and place in the refrigerator to chill.

Kayley’s instructions for making the meringue are very good. In her blog post she explains the difference between the different kinds of meringues~~Italian, Swiss, and traditional. Once made, spoon the cloud-like meringue on top of the filling.

It was rather fun to pile on this marshmallow-fluffy topping.

Caramelize the meringue using a kitchen torch. This is optional, but I believe it was the finishing touch on this delicious dessert.

I loved the flavors of the Rangpurs but I imagine it would be equally divine with lemons.

The tart filling, the sweet meringue and the buttery crust are the perfect combination. This will keep for several days in your refrigerator. Each slice is rich so you can feed many with this!

For the link to The Kitchen McCabe recipe, please click here.

I hope you have a spectacular Saturday. The freezing temperatures are finally over and I detect a hint of Spring in the air!