Pastry

Place in the flour, icing sugar, salt and butter in a food processor or food mixer and mix until a breadcrumb consistency is achieved.
At this point add the eggs to form a dough.
Half the mixture, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before rolling out.
Lightly flour your surface and roll out your pastry into the lined pie tins. Dock the pastry by pricking with a fork. Line with baking paper and fill with baking beans to blind bake.
Place into a pre heated oven @ 160° for 15 minutes, remove the backing beans and cook for a further 8 minutes. Leave to cool and trim any excess pastry.

Lemon filling

Whisk the eggs, lemon juice, sugar and cream together. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve then stir in the lemon zest. Pour the mixture into the tart pastry bases and cook in a pre-heated oven @ 140° for 35 minutes.

Meringue

Place the room temperature egg whites into the dry mixing bowl of a food mixer with the whisk attachment and start to whisk on a high speed until soft peaks are achieved, then gradually add a tablespoon of the sugar while whisking until the mixture
is firm and glossy white.
You can place this meringue mixture on top of the lemon tart once it comes out of the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes @ 180°.
Alternatively, and I prefer this method of leaving the lemon tart to cool, piping on my meringue topping and lightly blow torching it.

To serve

• Cold custard/ crème anglaise & raspberry coulis.
• Sweetened whipped cream.

Chefs Tips

• Experiment with adding freeze dried fruits to your lemon tart filling for extra flavour and colour.
• Serving the pie with fresh berries is a great way to add more fruit into the diet.
• When using egg that is not thoroughly cooked, make sure you always use British Lion eggs. These have been approved by the Food Standards Agency to be eaten runny or raw for vulnerable groups.