Lemon Meringue Cupids

What happens when you transform a lemon meringue pie into grain-free, delectable, single-serving desserts? You get lemon meringue cupids. Meringue cookies are topped with lemon custard and fresh whipped cream in this tantalizing recipe from guest blogger Walter Jeffries of Sugar Mountain Farm. Thanks, Walter!

I love my mother’s lemon meringue pie. The problem is it must be all eaten immediately in one sitting or the crust gets soggy from the filling and our family just can’t seem to eat that much pie that fast. Our solution was to develop a new recipe that uses the same basis but is made in individual servings rather than whole pies at a time. Thus the evolution of Cupids.

Lemon Meringue Cupids

Meringue Cookies

The Players

• 4 egg whites (save egg yolks to make lemon custard filling)
• 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar (where to buy coconut sugar)
• 2 cookie sheets covered with parchment paper

The How-To

Preheat oven to 250.

Beat egg whites and cream of tarter until they begin to stiffen. Slowly add the sugar. When the egg whites peak, use a large spoon to dollop out cookies onto the parchment paper covered cookie sheets. Use the back of the spoon to create a slight depression in the middle of each cookie. If the cookies are too thin, they will break easily when you try to take them off of the sheet.

Bake at 250 for 1 1/2 hours.

The meringue cookies will store for many weeks in a glass container with a tight lid. I put a drying packet in with the cookies to help keep them crisp.

Lemon Custard

The Players

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar, plus a little extra for the whipped cream (where to buy coconut sugar)
• 1/2 tsp dry lemon rind (optional)
• 1 pint of heavy cream (half goes into the filling and the other half is used as topping)
• vanilla (where to find quality vanilla)

The How-To

Mix yolks, lemon juice, 1/2 cup of sugar, and lemon rind in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened to a custard-like consistency. Cool well. (I like to put ice water into a larger container and then place the sauce pan into the the cold bath. Rather like a double boiler, except for cooling.)

Beat 1 pint of whipping cream. Add sugar and vanilla to taste.

Mix 1/2 of the whipping cream and the chilled egg yolk mixture together. This completes the lemon filling which will keep well in the refrigerator for several days.

Reserve the remaining whipping cream to top your cupid creations.

The Assembly

Using the Meringue Cookies as a base, add a scoop of Lemon Custard on top. Next, top with a dollop of the remaining whipped cream. These are best if eaten immediately after assembling and don’t store well when assembled.

Because they are individual servings they’re ideal for pot-lucks. We make the meringues, custard and whipped cream up ahead of time and keep the ingredients separate. This keeps the meringues crisp and delectable. Then on the buffet we simply put out the components and people make their own, thus getting the freshest possible pie. Any left over, which there is at home but never at a pot-luck, is still good and can be savored another day.

(top photo by Walter Jeffries, bottom photo by rsutphin)