If summer is not enough of an excuse to make some lemon meringue tart, how about trying out this Lemon Meringue Choux Tart as a bite size treat? For some varation, you can change the choux pastry to a chocolate choux or the curd to other citrus fruits. This is such a versatile recipe that I have a feeling I would revisit plenty of times.
WHAT IS CHOUX PASTRY?
For those of you that are new to pastry, choux pastry is often also referred to as "twice cooked" pastry. The process if fairly simple but does require you to cook out a dough called the "panade" by boiling water or milk, or sometimes both, with butter, then adding in the flour to gelatinse the starch. The panade is then cooled slightly in the mixer before eggs are added and then piped to desired size and shapes before the final baking in the oven.
A good choux pastry would give you a thin shell with a hollow centre that allows you to fill them with a variety of pastry fillings. Choux pastry can also be used for savoury purposes, such as the pomme dauphine or gougere.
WHAT TECHNICAL SKILLS IS REQUIRED WHEN PREPARING CHOUX PASTRY?
In many of the classes I had taught relating to choux pastry, I find that choux pastry amongst a few other pastries like laminated dough, macarons and chocolate tempering, is something alot of beginners fear of attempting to make.
Not without it challenges, choux can be a forgiving pastry to make if you follow some of the simple rules below:
I. Let the liquid boil before adding in the flour
Alot of times choux pastry will fail to rise properly when being baked in the oven if the starch in the flour has not been given the ability to fully gelatinize during cooking of the panade.
Wheat flour (plain flour / baker's flour) used in the pastry kitchen contain something called "starch". Starch is what you would also normally use to thicken sauces in cooking. When the wheat flour are added into liquid and heated, the starch will start to expel thickening molecules that helps absorb the liquid, turning them into viscous mass and ultimately thickens them. This process is often called "gelatinization". Gelatinization is what helps the panade to hold on to water which are then turned into steam when the choux pastry are being baked in the oven.
In order for gelatinization to happen properly, the liquid that the flour is added into needs to be hot enough. The liquid should range between 60-70C.
When making panade for choux pastry, you can simply bring the mixture to a boil as boiling temperature of liquid is at 100C. This way, you will be sure that it has reached a temperature high enough for gelatinization to happen.
II. NOT COOKING OUT THE PANADE ENOUGH
Same reason as boiling the liquid to make the panade, cooking out of the panade is essential to ensure that all the starch are evenly cooked and are fully gelatinize. Full gelatinization of the starch allows the panade to absorb all if not most of the liquid in the recipe that will essentially be used to turn into steam to help the choux pastry rise in the oven.
III. ADDING TOO MANY OR NOT ENOUGH EGGS
In alot of choux pastry recipe, you will notice a +- in egg ratio. This is because, depending on how long you cook the panade, the adjustment is necessary for a successful rise in your choux pastry when it hits the oven.
If you have not cooked the panade enough, you will most likely need less eggs than the recipe require since gelatinization are not complete. Vice versa, if you cooked out the panade too much, you may have dried out the panade too much and this will need to be compensated with more eggs than required.
IV. NOT ADDING ENOUGH EGGS
Eggs in choux pastry recipes plays some critical roles: one being that the protein coagulates during baking, which helps gives structure to the product. The second function of eggs is also to provide steam from its water content. About 75% of eggs are all moisture that can turn to steam in the oven which helps push the choux pastry up.
RECIPE
Yield: 16 mini tarts
Equiment:
4.5cm diameter x 2cm deep tart rings,
Perforated Silicone Strips cut to 12.5cm lenght x 2xm wide.
Perforated Silicone Mat
SHORTCRUST PASTRY
INGREDIENTS | GRAM |
Plain Flour | 80g |
Icing Sugar - sifted | 30g |
Almond meal | 10g |
Unsalted Butter | 30g |
Vanilla Bean Paste | 5g |
Fine Salt | 2g |
Egg Yolks | 25g |
CRAQUELINE
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Unsalted Butter | 25g |
Light Brown Sugar | 25g |
Plain Flour | 55g |
CHOUX PASTRY
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Water | 30ml |
Full Cream Milk | 30ml |
Salt | 1g |
Unsalted Butter | 30g |
Caster Sugar | 3g |
Plain Flour | 30g |
Baker's Flour | 25g |
Eggs | 90g +- |
LEMON CURD
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Lemon Juice | 160ml |
Caster Sugar | 240g |
Whole Eggs | 200g |
Unsalted Butter | 220g |
ITALIAN MERINGUE
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Caster Sugar (A) | 90g |
Water | 30ml |
Caster Sugar (B) | 30g |
Egg Whites | 60g |
Cream of Tartar | pinch |
METHOD
FOR THE SHORTCRUST PASTRY
Place cold and cubed butter, plain flour, icing sugar, almond meal and vanilla bean paste into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add in the cold egg yolks and continue to mix until a smooth dough is formed. Be careful not to over mix as to not over develope the gluten which can make the pastry tough.
Flatten the pastry between two parchment paper and roll to approximately 3 -4 mm in thickness.
Place pastry on a flat tray and leave in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
FOR THE CRAQUELINE
Cream the butter and sugar until creamy and there are no lumps of butter.
Add in the flour and continue to mix until well combined.
Roll the craqueline between two parchment paper until it is approximately 2mm in thickness.
Store in the freezer ready to cut and use.
FOR THE CHOUX PASTRY
Place the milk, water, salt, sugar and butter in a medium pot and bring to a boil.
Once the liquid starts boiling, remove the pot from the heat then add in the flour and stir thoroughly until a dough it formed. This is called a 'panade'.
Return the panade in the pot back over low heat and cook the dough our for approximately 1 minute. A skin will form at the bottom of the pot (unless if you are using a non stick pot) and the panade will start to form a sheen. Do not scrape the skin from the base of the pot when cooking out the panade.
Once cooked out, transfer the panade into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until the dough is no longer hot but still warm to touch - approximately 45 - 50C.
Whisk the eggs in a jug and gradually add the eggs in small additions at a time, allowing the panade to fully absorb the egg before the next addition. Adjust the amout of egg by doing the 'drop test', where, when you scoop the choux pastry with a spatula, it should start to 'fall' gradually and smoothly. If it doesn't move or falls back into the bowl heavily, add more eggs. Be careful not to add too much eggs otherwise the mixture will become runny where it will run off the spatula too quickly. In this case, it is best to restart the whole process again.
Once you achieved the required consistency, transfer the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a 3 cm plain pastry tip.
ASSEMBLY OF CHOUX TART CASE
Line baking tray with perforated silicone mat.
Cut individual stripf of perforated silicone mat to go around the border of the tart ring. I am using a 3.5cm diameter by 2cm deep mini individual rings.
Line each ring with the perforated strips.
Cut the chilled shortcrust pastry to 2cm wide by 12cm length strips.
Line the shortcrust pastry strips over the perforated strips in the tart ring.
Pipe choux pastry slightly less than halfway in the cavity of the ring.
Cut a 2.5cm disc of craqueline and place them on top of the choux pastry.
Bake in the preheated oven at 175C for 20- 25 minutes or until the choux pastry turns dark golden in color.
FOR THE LEMON CURD
Whisk the eggs, sugar and lemon juice together until well combined in a pot.
Over low heat, cook while constantly whisking until the mixture starts to thicken. The test if the curd is ready, dip a spatula into the curd. If you are able to run your finger over the curd without it running liquid, it is ready. Alternatively, look for temperature of approximately 98C.
Transfer the lemon curd into a jug and leave to cool to 35C. Add the cubed butter and emulsify with a stick blender until smooth.
Transfer into a piping bag and leave to completely cool in the fridge ready for final assemble.
Once chilled, pierce a small hole at the top of the choux for each tart and fill with the lemon curd.
FOR THE MERINGUE
Place water and sugar (A) in a clean saucepan and bring to a boil until it reaches 110C.
Meanwhile place the egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. When the sugar syrup has reaches 110C, begin to whisk the egg white mixture until it comes to a soft peak where there are no visible runny egg whites in the bowl.
Continye to cook the sugar syrup to 118C then turn the mixer speed to low then gradually stream in the hot syrup into the whipping egg whites.
Once all the syrup are incorporated, increase the speed to high and continue to whisk until you reach stiff peak.
Dip the top of each filled choux tart into the meringue and puff away to create a tip.
Torch the meringue with a blow torche and serve!
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