A fun way to make the most of winter citrus. You can stop at just the biscuits but I thought it would be fun to make mini meringues out of them!
Lemon Curd
40g butter
1 egg yolk
1 whole egg
110g caster sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons
Shortbread
200g flour
85g icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 2 lemons
170g butter, at room temperature, cubed
2 tsp thyme leaves
Swiss Meringue
3 egg whites
225g caster sugar
300g butter, at room temperature
Prep -
Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Start with the lemon curd, as it will need to cool completely before you can use it. Add all the lemon curd ingredients to a blender/nutribullet or food processor and blend until combined and emulsified. Place in a small pot on low heat and cook for 3-5 minutes, until it has thickened to a curd consistency. Place in a bowl covered with clingfilm (push the cling film to the surface so it doesn't form a skin) and into the fridge to cool.
Place all shortbread ingredients (except thyme) in a food processor and blend to a fine crumb. Alternatively, place in a large bowl and use a fork and your hands to bring together. Stir through thyme at the end, so some whole leaves remain.
Flour your surface and turn out dough. Use your hands to bring it together into a ball, then roll out to about 0.5cm. Shortbread dough is quite wet, so flour your rolling pin and cookie cutters and if it sticks, you can just ball it up and start again. Use a cookie cutter to cut desired shapes and place on baking tray. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes - this will prevent the butter from immediately melting when cookies are placed into the oven.
After chilling, bake cookies for 10-15 minutes, until slightly golden on the edges. Allow to cool.
To make the Swiss meringue, place egg whites and sugar in a large bowl or bowl of your stand mixer. Place over a pot of boiling water and whisk continuously until the sugar is dissolved, it will take about 5 minutes (test it by rubbing some between your finger and thumb to see if any sugar granules remain).
Transfer the bowl to your stand mixer or get your electric beaters out and whip until a stiff-peak meringue forms.
Assembly -
Once everything is cool, it's time to assemble.
Place curd into a piping bag or dollop 1/2 tsp amounts into the very centre of your cookie.
Place meringue in a piping bag and pipe around curd, then on top to seal it in.
Use a blow torch to torch the meringue, et voila!
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