Meringue Filled Tartlets for Christmas

Just a couple of days back a friend from school wrote on her Facebook update “My epitaph should read – here lies the drummer boy who grew up to be a lady!” Perhaps half the school remembers M as the drummer boy from the Christmas Carol competitions held every year in school during December. Christmas brings back loads of old memories, especially those days in school. Brought up in a Missionary school (read Carmel Convent) , Christmas meant a lot – Christmas carols, decorating the school with fake snow (Kolkata temperature never gone below 8°C), preparing the model manger and of course getting a share of the Christmas cake on 25^th morning.

School’s over and so is the innocent madness. These days Christmas has become synonymous to a partying late night on Christmas eve and perhaps a visit to the church mostly to see the Winter Fashion of the year (chuckles…). But, this time just thought of doing something a little different – planning to have a gala dinner on the 25^th night. What’s your plan for the day?

Decided on the dessert for the night – tartlets with meringue filling decorated with red cherries and sprigs of mint just to retain the colors of Christmas – white, red and green. I have used marzipan to make the crust along with maida, but you can omit the almond powder and use only all purpose flour.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup almond powder
• ½ cup castor sugar
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ tablespoon ghee/butter
• Water as required

For the filling:

• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3-4 tablespoon castor sugar
• Cherries to decorate

Preparation:

For the crust:

• Add all the dry ingredients together and pour in the butter/ghee
• Mix these ingredients to make a bread crumb like texture
• Pour cold water and knead with your hand to make a not-very-moist dough
• Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours
• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Roll out the dough and line 6 small flan tins. Press the dough into the corners and trim off the excess dough with a sharp knife. Alternatively you can use a single 8” flan tin
• Prick the dough with a fork and bake for 10-12 min or till the crust turns golden brown
• Take out and set to cool

For the filling:

• Beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks
• Add the castor sugar, vanilla essence and continue beating

Put Together:

• Pour the filling over the tart crust and bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 5-6 min on the upper rack till the peaks turn a little brown
• Serve hot or cold decorated with cherries

Hot Tips – You can create your own filling. Use thick custard or soft cream and seasonal fruits like strawberries, pineapple, raspberries, etc to decorate your tart. Do let us know about your favourite tart fillings.

Further Reading – Irish cream and Strawberry Tartlet, Toblerone tart.