I have never been an excellent baker; culinary school education, and all. Something came over me and possessed me to try my hand at a meringue. It turned out better than I could have imagined, and was, also, much more simple than most people would think. I wanted to shy away from the traditional, and make individual portions. Something about the small size is so much more inviting. These are a great and simple, summertime dessert. I have incorporated the gluten-free crust from the shortbread cookies recipe. Also, any kind of citrus can be substituted for the key lime juice (i.e. lemon, orange, blood orange, etc.) ENJOY!
INGREDIENTS:
Filling:
1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice (or any citrus juice of your liking)
3 egg yolks
6 ramekins with pre-baked gluten-free crust
Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/4 cup sugar
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Shape pie crusts into ramekins and bake for 13 minutes, until slightly golden brown.
In a medium bowl, combine milk, egg yolks and juice.
Mix well until smooth.
Fill the ramekins with approximately 3-4 spoon fulls of custard.
Bake for another 12-15 minutes. Custard will set and sides of the crust will brown up a little more.
In a mixing bowl, combine egg whites and Cream of Tartar.
Start mixing with a hand mixer, on HIGH. Slowly add sugar to the mixture. Continue to whip until mixture forms peaks.
Once the meringue is thick and set, you can either spoon it into the ramekins and shape with a utensil , or pipe it into the ramekins with the star shaped nozzle. (I chose to spoon and shape).
Once you finish shaping, you can either use a kitchen blow torch or place the ramekins under the broiler for several minutes. Be careful to not burn the meringue, it will burn very quickly if you aren’t watching it.
Let the meringues cool before serving. Enjoy.
