Sweet pastry filled with blood orange curd and topped with Swiss meringue and chopped pistachios. These sweet citrus gems will brighten your day!Sweet Tart Dough from Sarabeth's Bakery (see here)
Cream softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add sugar to the butter, mixing to combine. Then add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Mix to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
Add the flour to the butter mixture and mix until a soft dough forms.
Scrape the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface, lightly kneading the dough into a ball.
Divide the dough in half, forming each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator 30 minutes.
After chilling, working with one disk at a time, roll dough to ⅛" thickness. Line eight 4" tart pans with removable bottoms (see note) with the dough. Prick the bottom of the dough in each pan with a fork. Freeze for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F. After freezing, place each of the tartlet pans on a sheet pan. Line each tartlet with parchment paper and fill with pie weights (see note). Bake tart shells 15 minutes. Remove weights and parchment paper. Return tart shells to the oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool tart shells completely on a wire rack.
Curd:
Combine all curd ingredients in a medium heatproof bowl.
Bring a small pot of water to a simmer, placing the heatproof bowl on top. Be sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
Whisking constantly, cook over medium high heat until curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. You should be able to run your finger through it, leaving a line on the back of the spoon that doesn't run.
Strain curd into another bowl. Cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic against the surface of the curd. Cool curd completely in the refrigerator.
Meringue:
Combine egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl.
Bring a small pot of water to a simmer, placing the heatproof bowl on top. Be sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
Cook, whisking often, until sugar has dissolved completely.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip on high speed until stiff peaks form and mixture is no longer hot to the touch.
Add vanilla paste (or vanilla extract) and whip to combine, about one more minute. Transfer meringue to a piping bag (I used a 1M star tip and a 199 open star tip).
Assembly:
Fill cooled tart shells with chilled orange curd. Smooth curd with an offset spatula.
Pipe meringe on top of curd as desired. You could also just spoon/spread the meringue. Top with chopped pistachios, if desired.Enjoy!
Notes
Note on tartlet pans: I used 4" tartlet pans with a removable bottom (like the ones here). These pans are dark, so it may take a bit longer to get your tart shells golden in a lighter pan.Note on pie weights: Pie weights really do help when blind-baking a crust, helping to keep the dough from rising/getting bubbles as it bakes. This makes sure that you have the room that you need for filling. You can buy actual pie weights if you'd like (like these here), but I just use black beans. They're cheap and you can use them over and over again. Just don't try eating the beans after that...Note on vanilla bean paste: The vanilla bean paste can easily be substituted with vanilla extract--BUT--if you haven't tried vanilla bean paste, it really is awesome (see link here). It's vanilla-bean-flavor meets vanilla-extract-convenience. It can be pricey, but the good stuff really does taste better. You also typically use very little in a recipe, so a bottle will last you awhile. I also loooove the little black flecks in the meringue. <3