Meringue Shells

After two fabulous days with fun guest bloggers, I'm back to lemon meringue recipes. I can't get them off the brain right now for some reason.

This is from the Southern Heritage set, the Socials and Soirees volume. The recipe is Meringue Shells with Lemon Curd. Seems weird - plus when you would try to eat the meringue shell, wouldn't they crumble up?

4 egg whites

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sugar

Lemon Curd (coming below)

Fresh mint sprigs (optional) (I don't think Target has those...)

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until foamy. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Spoon meringue mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

Draw 24 circles, 2 inches in diameter, on 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Starting at center of each outlined circle, pipe meringue in a flat spiral fashion, using a circular motion that ends just inside each circle's outline. Continue to pipe meringue atop outer ring of base, using a circular motion, to form to continuously attached and stacked meringue rings. (huh?)

Bake at 225 for 1 hour. Turn oven off; cool meringues in oven at least 1 hour. Remove baked meringue cups. Use immediately or store in airtight containers. Spoon lemon curd into cups. Add mint sprig.

Lemon Curd:

3 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

Combine eggs, sugar, lemon juice and butter in a non-aluminum saucepan. (What would aluminum do?) Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Let cool. Chill thoroughly before spooning into shells.

This is a heck of a lot of work to make shells that likely you can't eat. Get some nice dishes, and spoon the lemon curd in there. Continuous circles - give me a break...