Marmalade meringue tarts

Instructions

1. Step 1

   Make the pastry by whizzing up the flour, butter and icing sugar in a food processor til you get breadcrumbs. To prevent the pastry from getting too tough and overworked I do short blitzes vs a long whirl

2. Step 2

   Beat the egg with 1-2 tbsp of water and then add slowly to make a soft dough. Again I do this in the processor in short bursts til a ball comes together. Leave the pastry to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

3. Step 3

   When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and grease the tart trays. If using a flower cutter you will need to space them out to about 6 per tray

4. Step 4

   Roll the pastry out to a few millimetres thick and then cut out 12 pieces. You will have pastry leftover so I tend to sprinkle this with grated Parmesan and bake for about 10 minutes as a cook’s treat!

5. Step 5

   Place the pastry rounds into the trays and press down gently and prick the bases lightly with a fork

6. Step 6

   Lay a little foil on top of the pastry rounds and then fill each with some baking beans. Bake for 5 minutes and then remove the baking beans and bake for a further 5 minutes til golden. Leave to cool while you make the Italian meringue

7. Step 7

   Whisk the egg whites til you get stiff peaks and then stop. Heat the caster sugar with 2 tbsp of water to 115°C and then pour over the stiff egg whites whisking all the time

8. Step 8

   Continue whisking til your mixture goes smooth, stiff and glossy

9. Step 9

   Dollop some marmalade into each cooled pastry case

10. Step 10

    Spoon the meringue into a piping bag and whirl some meringue over each blob of marmalade. If you don’t have a piping bag simply spoon some over and smooth out evenly

11. Step 11

    Use a blow torch to slightly scorch the meringue or pop the tarts under a medium grill for a few minutes for the same effect