Lemon, meringue and currant puff pastry

When the warm weather arrives, we crave for fresher sweets, using for example fruits, especially citrus fruits, which are very refreshing. This hlemon, meringue and currant puff pastry, not that it is light, but the lemon curd and currants, They give it a very light and appetizing touch with the coming arrival of summer!

In addition, with this recipe I am going to show you how to prepare two preparations, lemon curd, and Swiss meringue, that you can use in other cakes, sponge cakes, pies or tarts !

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE LEMON CURD (English lemon cream):

• 90 gr lemon juice
• 140 gr sugar
• 100 gr butter
• Zest from the peel of a lemon
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt

A sheet of puff pastry.

Currants.

FOR SWISS MERINGUE:

•  3 egg whites
• 180 gr sugar
• 60 ml of water
• A few drops of lemon
• One tablespoon of powdered sugar

STEP BY STEP RECIPE:

1. First we make the lemon curd. To do this, in a saucepan, beat the eggs with the sugar and the pinch of salt, add the lemon zest and the strained juice.
2. Place the saucepan in a bain-marie and stir constantly with the whisks until the mixture thickens. Then add the butter in pieces and continue stirring for about 5 minutes.
3. Remove and let cool. I recommend placing a piece of plastic wrap over the cream so that it does not form a crust and store in the refrigerator when it is not too hot, until ready to use.
4. Spread the puff pastry on a worktop and roll it a little to prevent it from puffing up too much. We make a rectangular cut with a knife. Prick it with a fork, fold it slightly around the edge so that it looks like in the photo (slightly thicker) and place it on baking paper on a baking sheet. It is necessary to place on the entire surface of the puff pastry, except on the edges, a weight to get a crispy base, but smooth and does not rise. My trick is to use a rectangular cake mold, place it on top of the puff pastry, and make a rectangle around the cake mold, leaving a couple of cm overhanging, to make the edge that I explained above. In this way you match your cake mold with the shape of the tartlet.
5. Preheat the oven to 180ºc and bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Once browned, take it out and let it cool on a wire rack.
6. While baking we can make the Swiss meringue. It is a very good meringue to use raw, that is, to use it directly in the decoration of cakes and then be able to eat it without baking. In addition, it is brighter and more consistent. This is how it is done: we start to whip the egg whites, with 30 gr of sugar, with the whisk or with a food processor. Meanwhile, in a bowl, add the rest of the sugar and the water and let it cook over medium heat until it thickens, and if you have a thermometer, until it reaches 150ºc. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the semi-whipped egg whites and add the syrup in a trickle, that is to say, little by little, so that the egg whites are “cooked” and do not remain raw. Whip for about 5 more minutes until the base of the bowl has cooled a little and finally add the powdered sugar to give it more shine. We will know it is ready when the whisk is lifted and it makes a shape called ”duck's beak” which is like an elongated beak downwards, which does not fall into the bowl.
7. Now all that remains is to plate it, as in the photo. Spread the lemon curd cream, already cold, on the puff pastry base, also cold or at room temperature. Then, with the help of a piping bag and a small round nozzle, we make the shape like the drawing in the photo or the one you like! Cooking and decorating is to try! so play with other star nozzles for example, and make the drawings that you like. Then, with the help of a blower we can brown the meringue a little, and then place the currants.

I hope you liked it! With all my love,

Mireia Alum