Lemon Meringue Cookies

I tried the famous lemon meringue cookies by Dorie Greenspan and loved them, but I wanted to make a new version. My version incorporates the meringue and dough components after the cookie is parbaked, allowing the two to bind together. This method creates texture and form, providing the perfect mould to pour the lemon curd cream into without it spilling over the side, although making the lemon cream curd using the method described here results in a silky, smooth buttery curd that doesn’t ooze out of tart shells or off of cookies as typical curds do. Baking the meringue and the cookie together also allow the two to be frozen together in an airtight container, making these cookies more convenient to bake, save and savour, one or two cookies at a time. The cream curd can also be frozen and added just before serving. Make a big batch of dough, meringue and curd, freeze, and enjoy whenever you’d like.

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Recipe:

Shortcrust cookie dough
1/3 cup almond flour (1.4 oz / 40g)
1 cup all-purpose flour (4.6 oz / 130g) plus more for hands
1/4 cup powdered sugar (1oz / 30g)
1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter (4 oz / 113g), cut into 1/2-inch pieces, chilled
1 large egg yolk (0.6 oz / 16g)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons cold water
Preheat the oven and toast the almond flour: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the almond flour in an even layer on a small rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring with a heatproof spatula once or twice, until the almond flour is fragrant and golden brown, 6 to 9 minutes. Transfer the almond flour to the bowl of a food processor and let cool. (Turn the oven off.)

Make the dough: Add the all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, and salt to the food processor, then pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and process in long pulses until the pieces of butter are no larger than a pea, about 10 pulses. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk, vanilla, and 4 teaspoons cold water with a fork until smooth. Remove the food processor lid and drizzle all of the yolk mixture evenly over the flour mixture (use a flexible spatula to scrape out every last drop). Replace the lid and process in long pulses until a ball of dough forms around the blade and no floury spots remain, about 10 pulses. Scrape the dough out of the food processor and onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Pat the dough into a ½-inch-thick disk, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.

Cut the dough into cookies, whatever shape you’d like.

Chill the dough: Freeze the cookies until the dough is completely hardened, 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven: While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Smooth the edge and line with foil: Remove cookies from the freezer.

Bake the cookies until the edge is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven.
To par- or fully bake the crust: Return the cookies to the oven and bake until the crust is golden all over, another 15 to 20 minutes for a parbaked cookie, or until deep golden brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes longer, for a fully baked cookie. Set the cookies aside to cool.

Meringue
50g egg whites
50g berry sugar
1/4tsp cream of tartar
1tsp vanilla extract
beat the egg white, vinegar and salt on medium-high speed until the mixture forms soft peaks, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. Once the sugar is incorporated, beat 2 minutes more; you’ll have stiff, glossy, white peaks.

Lemon cream curd
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup butter

Mix together sugar and zest and heat until fragrant. Add juice, sugar and beaten eggs. Heat to 175F, stirring constantly. Let cool to 140F and add room temperature butter that has been divided into cubes. Added a few cubes at a time. Mix with immersion blender. Strain out zest. Refrigerate with cling film over surface to prevent a skin from forming.