A sweet, slightly crumbly cookie cups filled with tart, silky smooth lemon curd, dressed up with a crispy browned meringue.
I honestly thought I had done in a past couple of weeks everything one person can do with an lemon or cookie cups. Lemonade krispie treats, lemonade bars, lemon curd, nutella cookie cups, banana cookie cups…. What could possibly be left? Oh…Lemon Cookie Cups? I can make COOKIE CUPS from an Lemon Curd? And I can bake them with a crispy browned meringue ?
Come with me to the moment I found this out. Can you see the rays of heavenly light pouring down around me? Can you hear the Hallelujah chorus? Or do you just think I’m a little bit weirder than you did just a few minutes ago? This starts with tart, silky yet rich and smooth lemon curd, if you can keep from just eat spoonfuls of it straight from the jar, well, You’ve got more willpower than me, and you get to move on to the next round, where it’s placed in a sweet, slightly crumbly cookie cup and then dressed up with a crispy browned meringue.
Roll dough into balls 1 inches thick, and place them in mini-muffin tin.
Press cookie dough in bottom and up the sides of each muffin cup, forming cup shape.
Drop one tablespoon of meringue on top of the curd in each cup.
- Cookie Cups
- -----
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- -----
- Filling
- -----
- ¾ cup lemon curd (recipe below)
- -----
- Meringue
- -----
- 2 egg whites
- 3 Tbls granulated sugar
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lightly spray mini muffin pan with baking spray.
- Cream butter in a mixing bowl, gradually add both sugars and continue creaming until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking soda with a wire whisk until combined.
- Slowly add to wet ingredients until just combined.
- Roll dough into balls 1 inches thick.
- Press cookie dough in bottom and up the sides of each muffin cup, forming cup shape.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
- Remove from oven and if necessary use a shot glass or similar object to press the center of your baked cookies cups down as soon as they come out of the oven.
- It creates a perfect hole for your Lemon curd to melt in!
- Spoon lemon curd into cups.
- Whip egg whites in a mixer bowl until foamy. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time, continuing to whip until stiff peaks form.
- Drop one tablespoon of meringue on top of the curd in each cup.
- Place cups on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and place under the broiler just until tips of meringue start to show color. Remove immediately.
- In my case it took 17 seconds to brown the meringue.
- Let cool 15-20 minutes in pan ( – be sure to eat at least one cup this way!), and serve.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or freeze for a convenient treat.
Lemon Curd ( * recipe from Fine Cooking)
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Directions
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
- In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. (Once it was completely melted, mine thickened and reached 170º in just a few minutes, so watch it closely.) It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don’t let the mixture boil.
- Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.
The Lemon Curd recipe makes more than you’ll need for the cookie cups, but it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days, and it freezes well and will keep in the freezer for 2 months. I plan to make Flower shaped Mini Lemon Curd Tarts in next couple of days, maybe you could try too
If you love lemon meringue pie and lemon bars, these are definitely for you.
If you hate lemon, you are an alien and I’m not sure we can be friends anymore lol
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