Lemon Meringue Cups with Gingersnap Crust

Hi Guys, this started as a simple “here’s my quick dessert treat” post on Instagram.  Who knew so many would want the official recipe!!

So I’m writing it out for all of you.  And as I do, I suddenly realize that I am craving it again!!  So now I have to go and follow my own recipes and make this fun little twist on Lemon Meringue Pie.

Because that is what this is.  All the components of a pie, without all the hassle of forming and blind-baking the crust, filling it and baking it again, or spreading out the meringue and then baking it again to brown the egg whites.  This is just so much easier. But with all the flavours intact!  Such a breezy summer treat.

So here we go.  First we’ll need to make a batch of my Lemony Lemon Curd.  It is such a fun recipe, and is uber lemony.  It keeps forever in the fridge.  And can be used in a multitude of settings.  Spoon it on blueberry muffins, add it to crepes, add layers of curd to Lemon Poppyseed Ice cream.  On and On.

Once we have that made and stored in the fridge, we can move on to the Spicy Ginger Molasses Cookies.  This is the best tasting gingersnap cookie I have ever made.  It is spicy, has such a lovely presence of molasses, and has two types of ginger in the dough.  They bake up wonderfully.  If you take them out of the oven before it is too late, they will be so tender, and stay nice and moist for days.  What I do with a batch, is blitz half of them down into cookie crumbs and freeze.  Now I have crumbs ready for when I want to bake a pie.  But of course, you can also add the crumbs to crumble or crisp toppings, sprinkle them on ice cream or yogurt, or add them to your morning oatmeal.  So go make a batch right now.

So, we have our lemon curd and our cookie crumbs.  Now we need the meringue.  For four servings, you will need two large egg whites.  These will simply go into the bowl of your stand mixer.  With the whisk attachment, start frothing them up.  Have 1 tablespoon of icing or powdered sugar ready.  Slowly drizzle this into the thickening egg whites.  You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the sugar gets into the egg whites.  Keep whisking on high, until you get a stiff batter.  When you lift the whisk attachment, the meringue should stay put, including the top point of the meringue.  If it droops over or still seems too creamy, keep whisking.  But stop before you over-whisk.  You don’t want too much air to get inside and dry out the meringue.  It will start to look grainy at that point.

To create the dessert.  You’ll be using small canning jars or glasses to serve these. In a small bowl you’ll blend about 6 tablespoons of cookie crumbs with 1  or so tablespoon of melted butter.  Stir to blend well.  Spoon this into the bottom of your glass or canning jar.  Pack it down gently.  Now spoon some of the curd into each cup.  You want to leave about 3/4 inch of space from the top.  Spoon a generous amount of meringue over the curd.  Try to get it to touch the edges.  Ideally you will now pull out your trusty torch and gently burnish all the lovely raised bumps and points you created in the meringue with your spoon.  If you don’t have a torch and the glasses are oven safe, you could put them on upper third rack and broil till just turning brown.  Watch them though.  And if all else fails and you can’t brown the meringue, that’s all right too.  Just sprinkle some more crumbs on top and call them done!!

This is a perfect no bake (except for the cookies, just bake them on a cool day or early in the morning) dessert for all summer long.  They are great for entertaining, as they keep for a couple of days in the fridge, just as is!

Happy Summer everyone.

Love Jen

Print

Lemon Meringue Cups with Gingersnap Crust

The best of a lemon meringue pie, without all the baking or fussing with pastry! This dessert is a treat for the entire summer. Perfect for entertaining, it can be made ahead and kept in the fridge.

Course Dessert

Keyword lemon, meringue

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 6-8 tbsp ginger cookie crumbs see Notes for link
• 1- 1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
• 1 2/3 cups lemon curd see Notes for link
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tbsp icing or powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Depending on how large your glasses are you may need less or more of each component. They should hold around 2/3 cup of liquid.
2. Combine the cookie crumbs and butter in a small bowl. Spread some evenly into the bottom of each glass. Pat down gently with the back of the spoon.
3. Spoon some of the curd into each glass. Make sure to fill in any air pockets. You should leave about 3/4 inch space for the meringue. The glasses can now be placed in the fridge while you work on the meringue.
4. Place the egg whites into the bowl of a mixer. Using the whisk attachment, begin frothing the eggs. Once you have gotten them to a creamy stage, you can begin adding the powdered sugar. If needed, scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that the sugar all gets incorporated.
5. Keep whisking until a stiff peak is achieved. It should hold the shape when you remove the whisk attachment and turn it with the peak pointing up.
6. Spoon the meringue evenly between the four glasses. Use your spoon to get the meringue to get it to adhere to all of the curd as well as the sides of the glass up to the edge. Add more to have a lovely mountain on top. Use your spoon to create fun shapes and divots.
7. Take a kitchen torch and slowly burnish all the edges of the craters of tips in the meringue.
8. These can stay in the fridge for a day or so as is.

Recipe Notes

Here is the link for the Spicy Ginger Cookies.
Here is the link for my Lemony Lemon Curd