mini lemon meringue tarts

I'm back into the cooking and baking big time at the moment. I've had a bit of a craze on lemons just lately and thought I'd try using the usual lemon meringue recipe to make mini pies or tarts. I used a recipe from my Mum's old cook book and made sure I followed her little handwritten notes that she had scribbled next to the recipe.

They turned out okay, very tasty actually but not how I hoped they would look. I got the piping bag out and planned to pipe pretty swirls of meringue on top...sadly it didn't hold it's shape enough. I remember from food and nutrition lessons at the school that you must have an absolutely scrupulously clean bowl with no hint of grease at all for meringue and ensured this was the case....so I can only assume that I didn't beat it enough. Oh well, as my old Dad used to say " the proof of the pudding is in the eating" and we certainly enjoyed them even if they weren't that pretty! The usual recipe made 7 tartlets, not bad really, I think if it had been the normal sized pie we would have just had 3 very big servings instead of making them last 2 days lol.

Teaching myself to make better pastry

I bought myself some loose bottomed tartlet tins and they called for a better pastry than my usual shortcrust, so I tried my hand at Sweet tart pastry French style. I am very pleased with the results, the  crust has a hint of vanilla and a more biscuit-like texture than the shortcrust, 'yum!' I just can't stop baking at the mo, it's addictive, and yes I have started to put on weight, 'ahem!' I'm telling myself I need a bit more fat to keep myself warm through the Winter lol!

Doxie