I love a deconstructed dessert. They save time and hassle, but often present amazingly. In a glass, on a plate or in a jar, it doesn’t seem to matter, they just look pretty. A few herb blossoms picked from an over achieving garden, some baby end tips of mint, zest from that lime found at the bottom of the veggie box and you have a stunning (everything can be prepared in advance) dessert for all occasions.

And who doesn’t love a good marshmallow meringue topped Lemon Meringue Pie, but who has the time to make one from scratch and gluten free?

Deconstructing can save you this hassle. Here I have used the Quinoa and Ginger Anzac biscuits from the last post to create the crumb base, a home made lemon curd recipe included, and the marshmallow meringue recipe taught to me by Gov the pastry chef at Tafe (recipe here), and they can all be pre prepared.

Lemon curd is one of those amazing recipes that can be cooked in various and completely different ways. I follow the hard and fast method here, it creates a zestier and sharper flavour in the curd, which works well with the meringue. Traditionally lemon curd is made with egg yolks but I always find there is an unbalanced egg flavour, so I have opted for a whole egg lemon curd. Lemon curd or lemon butter as it is also referred, is a preserve, so it’s a great way to use up a glut or on the way out citrus fruit, you can use different combinations you just need about 100ml of citrus juice. It will keep covered in the refrigerator for a month or more.

Deconstructed Lemon Meringue Pie

2 biscuits per person Quinoa and Ginger Anzac Biscuits (recipe here)

1 – 2 tsp per 2 biscuits Macadamia Oil (or coconut oil)

Lemon Curd (recipe to follow)

Marshmallow Meringue (recipe here)

Zest of 1 lime (optional)

Holy Basil Blossoms (optional but pretty)

Baby mint tips (optional)

Lemon Curd

3 eggs

2 Medium Lemons (zested and juiced)

1/2 cup Caster Sugar

100g Butter cubed

 

For the Dessert:

Place the Anzac Biscuits into a food processor and blitz into a fine crumb.

Add the Macadamia oil and pulse to combine. The mix should be a moist slightly clumping crumble. Set aside.

Place the meringue into a piping bag, ready for serving.

Put the lemon curd into a piping bag ready to serve.

Spoon a generous amount of the crumb onto a plate, bowl, jar, glass, teacup.

Pipe some of the lemon curd onto.

Pipe a god amount of the marshmellow meringue on top of the lemon curd.

Scorch the surface of the meringue with a kitchen blow torch.

Decorate with lime zest, blossoms and mint.

Serve and eat and enjoy…….

 

For Lemon Curd:

In a sauce pan over medium low heat add the juice and zest of the lemon and butter. Heat until the butter has melted.

Meanwhile, in a bowl whisk the eggs and the sugar until fully incorporated.

Once the butter has melted add the egg mix.

Turn the heat up to medium, and stir constantly until the mix has thickened about 8 minutes.

Don’t heat above boil or 86C or the eggs will scramble.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a bowl or jar and keep in the refrigerator for 1 month.

 

Notes:

Left over lemon curd is delicious served on coconut bread, it is also a great addition to the middle of any sponge cake, vanilla butter cake, scones, macarons, or sweet muffins or cup cakes.

Don’t have lemons but have limes, passion fruits, oranges, try using them or a combination of them instead.

If you don’t have time to make the lemon curd, buy a good quality one from supermarkets or farmer markets.

Don’t have time to make the meringue, top with some chantilly cream, whipped cream and icing sugar and a touch of vanilla, it will still be stunning and delicious.

Holy basil blossom have a liquorice basil flavour, perfect for desserts.

Unfortunately almost the only way to get holy basil blossoms are to grow (or make friends with someone who grows) it, but what a great excuse to add to that herb garden/plant pot.

 

For the record these desserts lasted about 2 seconds after the photo shoot, with any extra meringue and lemon curd being eaten straight from the bowls.       What dessert would you love to deconstruct and then consume???