Impress your guests without the stress

Lemon meringue tart is an easy-to-make holiday dessert

Don't want your holiday guests to ‘bah humbug' your dessert after a big holiday dinner?

Put away the fruitcake and figgy pudding, and try Chef Kristy Choo's lemon meringue tart. 

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"We [start] with fresh lemon juice, cream with sugar inside already, gelatin, and egg yolk," Choo told Ivanhoe. "That's it, that's all you need."

Mix the ingredients together and stir as the mixture cools over an ice bath. Watch for the mixture to thicken as it cools. Pour the custard into a tart shell, and refrigerate until it doesn't wobble.

Choo says you can make the tart with any citrus fruit which is in season.  Just be sure to gauge the amount of added sugar based on how sweet the fruit is; very sweet fruits like oranges may not even need any.

Before serving, make the meringue. Mix three egg whites and a boiled mixture of sugar and water on high until it cools.  Use it to top off the custard, along with some festive chocolate and for that extra touch add a gold leaf.

It's an easy recipe from someone used to creating more complicated desserts.  Choo is known for her chocolate Christmas trees.  She does a new design every year.

"It's very much like an art project that you do," Choo said.

The chocolate goes from liquid, to stenciled, to construction, even acting as a glue. "The key to working with the chocolate is you have to work it quickly and temperature control," Choo said.

Once built, Choo finishes it off with chocolate ornaments, sure to brighten any holiday table.

Lemon Meringue Tart Recipe:
(Printable Recipe Here)

Tart
1 Shell

Filling
1 ¼ cups Cream
1/3 cup Lemon or Yuzu juice
¼ cup Sugar
½ cup Glucose
1/3 cup Sugar
3 Egg yolks
1 ¼ tsp. Gelatin

Meringue
3 Egg whites
½ cup Sugar
2 ½ tbsp. Water

Method
Bake shell until light brown. Brush with chocolate. 

Put the cream, sugar, glucose in a pot to boil. Separately warm up the lemon juice then add into the warm cream mixture. In a bowl, put the yolk and whisk temper with the hot mixture and proceed to cook like crème anglaise and sieve. Let the mixture cool on ice water bath. Pour the cool mixture into the tart shell.

Whisk the egg white in a mixing bowl. Boil the sugar and water to 121'C add the cook sugar while the mixer is on the high speed. Whisk till the egg white is cool. Put in pipping bag to pipe dome on the tart.