Lemon Tarte with Meringue

Lemon tarte with meringue is my no. 1! But it was not love at first sight. I mean, come on.. lemons! They are tasty, of course, but sour. And I’ve got a sweet tooth, definitely! I was sure we would never make a good match.
But then fate took its course. My relationship with lemon tartes started some years ago, when I entered a coffee house in Vienna and desperately wanted to eat cake. I did not have much money with me, so I had to take what I could afford and that was one cup of coffee and a piece of lemon tarte. You can imagine the rest.
Lemon tarte is not cheap when shop-bought, so I thought why not making my own. I was pretty nervous because of the grilled meringue, but it turned out so well and I could eat so much of it without spending much money. Besides, baking the tarte fills the whole flat with a sweet lemon aroma. Nice side-effect!

Here’s my recipe for a home-made version. I never add too much sugar to my sweets, so if you want it sweeter, then feel free to alter the recipe the way you like it. You just need to add more sugar to the pastry and the lemon filling.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

• 125 grams of butter at room temperature 
• 70 grams caster sugar, sieved 
• 50 grams ground almonds 
• 250 grams flour, sieved 
• 1 egg (50 grams) at room temperature

Beat butter, sugar and ground almonds and gradually add the sieved flour until well combined. Add the egg and knead until well combined (if the dough is too firm, add some splashes of water). Form the dough into a ball and refrigerate for about 1 hour (or until needed).

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out. Lay your tarte tin with it, prick it with a fork, line with parchment paper and pour your baking beans over it. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, remove from the oven and remove baking beans and parchment paper.

Lemon filling

• 3 lemons
• 100 grams of butter at room temperature 
• 1-2 tbsp honey
• 15 grams of corn starch
• 3 eggs at room temperature

Zest one of your lemons and squeeze the juice of all 3 lemons. Melt butter and honey in a saucepan on a low heat, then add the lemon zest and juice to it and let it cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the 3 eggs with the corn starch and add to the butter-lemon-mixture. Mix well until smooth.

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees. Spread the lemon-mixture over the baked tarte and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Meringue

• 25 grams of caster sugar (or icing sugar), sieved
• 3 egg whites

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then start to add the sugar gradually. Whisk until stiff.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (grill option).
Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe big dots on the surface of the tarte, so that they cover the surface of the tarte completely. Grill in the oven for about 1-2 minutes (or longer) until slightly coloured.

Germknödel (austrian sweet yeast dumplings filled with plum stew)

I love Austrian sweets - I grew up with them, so how could I not love them? - and once in a while I really crave „Germknödel“. They’re so delicious!
I guess, because they are served warm, they are meant to be for the cold times of the year, but however, I can even eat them in the burning heat of summer.
I love their soft dough with all those flavours and the warm Powidl inside. When I was little, I had holidays during the plum-harvest and I remember my nana cooking Powidl the whole day. So, if you make these, then try to get real Powidl because Powidl is NOT plum jam! Powidl is made of plums, but unlike jam it’s a stew without additional sugar or gelling agents. Of course, you can substitute Powidl with plum jam, but then you won’t get the authentic flavour.

The dumplings are not difficult to make, so here is my recipe! :D

Ingredients (makes approx. 8 dumplings)

• 200 ml milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• half a sachet of active dry yeast (about 3,5 grams)
• 200 grams flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 25 grams butter, melted and slightly cooled
• pinch of salt
• 100 grams plum stew (Powidl)
• 20 grams melted butter
• 50 grams of ground poppy seeds
• icing sugar
• rum, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt for the cooking water

method 

Heat the milk with the sugar on a low heat until it’s warm, but not hot. Remove from heat and stir in the yeast with a fork. Let it sit for a few minutes.
Sieve the flour in a bowl and pour the milk-yeast-mixture into it. Start to beat with either a hand mixer or in the food processor with a paddle attachment on a low speed, then add the egg yolk, butter and a pinch of salt. Beat until it forms a dough - the dough should be firm. Let it rest in a warm place for about half an hour.

Divide the dough into 8 portions. With your hand, shape the dough into tight balls and roll them out palm-sized with a rolling pin. Put one tsp of plum jam in the middle of each dough. Pull and fold the sides over the filling and pinch the edges together to seal.  

Place the dumplings upside-down on a floured surface, cover them with a kitchen towel and leave to rest in a warm surrounding until doubled in size – for about half an hour.

Fill a large pot with water. Add a strong dash of rum, approx. 2 tbsp of sugar, a pinch of salt and cinnamon to it and bring to boil. Reduce the heat so that the water doesn’t bubble away and add the dumplings. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, then turn them over and prick each dumpling 4-5 times with a needle. Cover again and let them cook further 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove the dumplings from the water, place them immediately on a plate and pour melted butter over them. Sprinkle with poppy seeds and icing sugar according to taste and serve.

Enjoy!