This citrus tart is my take on a lemon meringue pie, but with a few twists. Obviously the term “citrus” would imply that I am using more than just lemon, which is true: my friend Karen was gracious enough to gift me with lemons and limes that she grew herself, so I wanted to use both of those throughout this dessert! Unlike a lemon meringue pie, this recipe also includes a whipped rose cheesecake layer, that is tucked between the lemon-lime curd, and a lemon-lime gelee. And of course, we have the meringues. Traditional lemon meringue pie is slathered with meringue that is torched. And while that is classic and delicious, I was making this pie with the intention of it needing to sit in my car for 5 hours. For context, I had two birthday parties to go to, both of which were about an hour drive away from me, and they were about 5 hours apart. As much as I would have loved to have gone back home between parties, it just wasn’t feasible, so I had to keep in mind storability when it came to this dessert, since it was for the party that was 5 hours after the first one. So a torched meringue would just weep and smear from sitting in my car in the warm LA weather for that long. Instead, I went with these fun baked meringues that I piped in large cylinders and broke into smaller pieces. I stored those in an airtight container, separate of the tart, and assembled the tart after I got to the second party. This tart was a ton of fun to make, because it had a lot of nice textures, with buttery, acidic, floral, sweet, creamy, and crunchy, there is a lot of things that make this a really balanced and tasty experience!

For the components, we have a citrus shortbread crust, infused with a bunch of lemon and lime zest, a lemon-lime curd, a whipped rose cheesecake, a lemon-lime gelee, dried rose meringues, and little shortbread disks to finish. I was kind of going for this jewel box aesthetic with the gelee, meringues, and shortbread disks popping out from the middle of the tart. Of the components, I would say that the crust was the most important. Given how the tart was set up, the shortbread needs to be rolled to an appropriate thickness and baked properly, or the entire thing will collapse or fall apart. With the lemon curd, I used egg yolks and olive oil, but set it with gelatin powder, since I needed it to be firm enough for other fillings to go on top of it. With the whipped rose cheesecake, I used rose hip jam to give it a natural rose flavor. The cheesecake component is probably the easiest component to make, being just whipped cream cheese with the rose hip jam. But the technical scale of the dessert as a whole makes up for one relatively simple portion. The meringues, this is where a little bit more patience is involved. I whipped the egg white with a little rose water, pink food coloring, and sugar, and then piped and baked the meringue until they dried out. Usually with baked meringues, you need to go low and slow, but since we made sticks, they actually baked through in 10 minutes! This tart doubles as a cheesecake with that whipped cheesecake layer, so you are essentially getting two desserts for the price of one! All in all, this was a fun dessert to make, since all of the components really came together nicely to form this light, citrusy tart!

For the shortbread:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp lime zest
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lime juice

In a food processor, mix the flour, butter, zests, sugar, and salt until a coarse, crumbly dough has formed. Mix into that the juices, stirring the dough until it comes together in a ball. Refrigerate the dough for at least 20 minutes. Roll out the dough and place it into a 6 inch by 2 inch ring mold that is placed on a lined sheet tray, pressing and rolling the dough so that it is about 1/8-inch thick on the edges. Trim the excess dough off the edges and place parchment and baking weights into the ring mold. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before baking at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes. Remove the parchment and baking weights, and bake for another 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Allow the tart shell to fully cool before attempting to unmold. With any remaining dough, roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness and cut out 1/4-inch disks. Bake the dough disks at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

For the lemon-lime curd:
Juice and zest from 2 lemons
Juice and zest from 2 limes
1 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, bring the lemon and lime juice, zest, and gelatin to a simmer, allowing the gelatin to fully dissolve into the juice. In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolk, cornstarch, olive oil, and salt. Pour half of the juice into the egg yolk bowl, while whisking. Then pour all of that back into the pot and whisk on low heat until the mixture begins to thicken and cling to the sides of the whisk. Pass the curd through a sieve and whisk in the vanilla. Pour the curd, while still warm, into the bottom of the already-baked tart shell.

For the lemon-lime gelee:
1.5oz lemon juice
.5oz lime juice
1oz water
.2oz lime zest
.1oz granulated sugar
2 tbsp agar agar
a pinch of salt

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer. Once the agar is dissolved, pour the liquid into a shallow container and refrigerate until set. Cut the gelee into 1/8-inch by 1/8-inch cubes.

For the whipped rose cheesecake:
8oz cream cheese
4oz rose hip jam
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, whip everything together until combined.

For the rose meringues:
1 egg white
1 tsp rose water
1 drop pink food coloring
3 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, whip everything together to stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag with a 1/2-inch circle tip. Pipe long cylinders of the meringue in rows onto a parchment-lined sheet tray. Bake at 285 degrees F for 15 minutes. Allow the meringues to cool down before breaking into smaller pieces and placing into an airtight container.

For assembly:
Spread the rose cheesecake into the inside of the tart on top of the citrus curd. Then add in the cubes of citrus gelee and the shortbread disks. Garnish with the rose meringue pieces when ready to serve.