Directions

• For the lemon curd:
• Weigh the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice into a medium saucepan and place it over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the butter melts.
• Whisking constantly, pour the beaten egg into the pan and continue to whisk until the curd thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
• Pour the curd through a sieve into a heatproof bowl, gently stirring the contents of the sieve to ease the curd through. Allow the curd to cool slightly at room temperature, before placing in the fridge to chill.
• For the lemon ice cream:
• Pour the condensed milk into a mixing bowl, add the lemon curd and whisk them together to combine.
• In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the double cream to stiff peak consistency.
• Fold the double cream into the condensed milk mixture until it is fully combined, at which point the mixture should be light and smooth.
• Pour the mixture into freezer-safe containers and freeze for at least 6 hours, or until set. If you can leave it overnight, even better!
• For the pastry:
• Sift the flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
• Cube the butter and add it to the bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Add the beaten egg and vanilla extract to the bowl and stir through to start forming your ball of dough.
• Gently bring the dough together with your hands and flatten it into a smooth disc. If you find the pastry continues to crumble apart as you try to bring it together, stir through a tablespoon of milk and retry!
• Wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for 30 mins.
• Preparing the tarts:
• Grease each hole of your 12-hole muffin tin with a little butter. You can also lay a strip of baking paper across the bottom and up the sides of each hole, which you can use to lift the pastry cases out with once baked. Check out the notes below this recipe for more details!
• Lightly dust your pastry and work surface with a little flour and roll out the pastry into a circle 3mm thick, roughly the thickness of a £1 coin. To make your life a little easier, I recommend rolling the pastry out onto a silicone mat, making the pastry easier to manipulate and peel away once rolled.
• Use a round biscuit cutter, slightly larger than the holes of your bun tin, to cut out 12 pastry circles and lay each one into your tin.
• Place the tin into the fridge for 15 minutes to chill the pastry before baking. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 160C fan.
• Baking the tarts:
• Prick the base of each pastry case with a fork, then lay a piece of baking paper or tin foil inside each one, before filling them with baking beans or uncooked rice to weigh them down.
• Place your tin in the oven at 160C fan for 20 mins to blind bake the pastry cases, before carefully removing the paper/foil linings. Brush a little beaten egg onto the bottom of each case and return the tray to the oven for 10 minutes to finish drying out the pastry.
• Leave the pastry cases in the tins to cool for 5 mins, before carefully removing and placing them on a cooling rack until completely cool.
• Assembly:
• Place the lemon ice cream into a piping bag fitted with a open star tip and allow the ice cream to warm up at room temperature until it is a pipeable consistency. Pipe a tall swirl of ice cream into each pastry case.
• If ready to serve, break up some meringue kisses to scatter over the ice cream and place a single meringue kiss onto the top. Otherwise, pop the tarts into an airtight container and place into the freezer until ready to decorate just before serving.