I always wonder when there are days for people who we should be celebrating and appreciating every day, like Mother’s day and Father’s day. But then on the other hand, it is not every day that a mother or a father is treated special by their family, isn’t it ? Mothers work tirelessly to provide for their family’s needs – making food, preparing snacks, driving them around for classes, making the beds, doing laundry, keeping the house clean, not to mention paying bills, taking care of finances sometimes, sorting out vacations, shopping for the kids clothes, school supplies, and the list goes on and on! There are always a never ending list of chores, and it is nice to give that lovely hardworking woman a break from the reality and pamper her a bit! 😉
My mom did all of the above and went above and beyond for us! She was our protector, our life line, our savior, our bear(cause we loved to hug her and kiss her) and much more! I was a rebellious teenager and I troubled her a lot, and I feel bad thinking about all the times I really troubled her! But that was our relationship, our bond, our love! My mom loved flowers, all kinds but her favorite flowers were lilies, roses and bougainvilleas. She loved the color of the bougainvilleas – the bright neon pink and she had planted it in our home in Bombay as well. Every time I see those pretty flowers, it reminds me of her and her sweet smile.
I know mom would have loved the Rose-Raspberry Lemon Curd Tart, with the berries and the meringue kisses that I made as a recipe for Mother’s Day. She loved the rose flavor a lot, especially in Faloodas which is an Indian dessert that is made with milk, vanilla ice cream, rose syrup, basil seeds, vermicelli, pistachios, almonds. I made this dessert keeping her in my thoughts and including her favorite flavors like rose and all the berries.
Meringues can be made a couple of days ahead in time. They are super easy to make! You need equal parts egg whites and granulated sugar, a pinch of cream of tartar to get the stiff peaks of the meringue, and food color if you wish! You bake them in the oven for 40 minutes or so, and then let it cool in the oven(turning the oven off), with the door open. This process helps to dry the meringues completely. You can choose to use food coloring or not. I used pink fairy dust on the pink meringues cause it was so pretty!
For the Rose-Raspberry Lemon Curd, a raspberry puree is made with fresh raspberries, and strained to remove the seeds. While making lemon curd I add in the raspberry puree. Once the Raspberry curd is made, I add in rose extract for the intense rose flavor. Rose water would water down the curd which is not what you want. You can purchase the rose extract from Amazon here. You can choose to omit the rose extract to make a raspberry lemon curd tart. Rose extract is slightly expensive but I love the fragrance! I let the curd cool down in the fridge and prepare my tart shell in the meanwhile. The tart dough is very simple and I make it using spelt flour and ground pistachios. You could make it simply with all purpose flour if you would like. Once the tart dough is put into a 9 inch round pan, let it set in the fridge for 15 minutes. Once set, blind bake(bake with pie weights) it in the oven for 15 minutes and without the pie weights for another 15 minutes and your tart shell is ready! Let it cool.
The curd is placed in the tart, smoothened out and then baked in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the tart is cooled. Then it is best to cool it in the fridge, such that it can be cut into proper slices! I loved decorating it with all the different berries, pink meringues that were homemade as well with a sprinkle of fairy dust and pink pearls to give it that elegant look !
I actually froze the tart for 15-20 minutes after it was decorated, and once I sliced it, each bite was cold and so perfect, like an explosion of bright, fresh, summer flavors in my mouth! It turned out so delicious! My family loved the tart and actually asked me to make it for their birthday instead of cake! J I know that is not happening but it was so cute to hear them say so!
Go treat that special woman in your life with all the special feels – she deserves it, and much more! I hope you get a chance to make this tart for your mother. It is such a special treat for that special lady in your life!
If you do make it, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave me a comment on the below blog post! I would love to hear how you liked it!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful mothers out there!
Much love!
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
Rose-Raspberry Lemon Curd:
- Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup raspberries
- 2 teaspoons rose extract
Meringues:
- 3 egg whites at room temperature ( weigh the egg whites) – for example 100gms
- 1.5 times the weight for the granulated sugar – for example 150gms of sugar
- Pinch of cream of tartar
- Food color(if you wish to)
Spelt-Pistachio Crust:
- 1 1/4 cup spelt flour
- ½ cup finely ground pistachios
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Garnish:
- Assorted berries
- Pink pearls from Wilton
Instructions
Rose-Raspberry Lemon Curd:
- Blend the raspberries in a high speed blender. Strain it through a fine to medium sieve to discard all the seeds.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the raspberries, lemon juice, granulated sugar, eggs and lemon zest until combined. Now on low heat, keep stirring the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon. After a minute, add in the butter and stir constantly till it is all combined. Keep stirring for a total of 5-7 minutes until the curd is thick enough that it sticks to the back of the wooden spoon. When you run your index finger through the back of the wooden spoon, the sides should remain. Switch off the stove.
- Strain the curd through a fine sieve into a glass bowl. Add the rose extract at this time and stir well. Cover with a saran wrap to not form a layer on the top. Cool in the refrigerator for an hour.
Spelt-Pistachio Crust:
- Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 375°F.
- Pulse spelt flour, ground pistachios, sugar and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add eggs and vanilla and pulse just until incorporated and dough begins to form large clumps.
- Turn dough out onto a work surface and massage the dough with the heel of your hand (fraisage) to incorporate the dough and form into a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc.
- Put dough in tart pan and pat it evenly with well-floured fingers into the bottom of the pan and up the sides so it extends about 1/4 inch above rim. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Lightly prick tart shell all over with a fork, then line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake shell until golden around edge, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment paper and weights and bake until shell is golden all over, about 15 minutes more.
- Cool shell completely.
Bake the tart:
- Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
- Fill the tart to the top with the rose-raspberry lemon curd and even it out with a small splatula.
- Bake the tart for 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for an hour.
- Once cool, let it set and get cold in the fridge for about 2 hours.
Decorating the tart :
- You can decorate it with berries, pink pearls and pink meringues or whatever you feel like decorating it with! Use your imagination!
Pink Meringues:
- Pour egg whites into the bowl of your clean stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on low allowing bubbles to form. Add in a pinch of cream of tartar, and keep whisking for 30 seconds. Increase to high and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.
- Add the granulated sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking on high speed continuously. Once all the sugar is added, continue to whisk for 5 - 7 minutes. You should be able to rub the mixture between your fingers and not feel any grainy texture from the sugar. You know it’s ready to use when you turn the whisk upwards and the meringue holds its shape.
- Pre-heat oven temperature to 225 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a dab of meringue on four corners of pan and press paper on top to hold it down flat.
- To stripe kisses, turn piping bag inside out and paint on 4-5 stripes of food coloring. Invert the bag slowly and carefully add in the meringue mixture so it is packed in tightly. Snip off the tip of the piping bag about an inch in diameter and pipe kisses on baking sheet. You could also use a star shape and put it in the piping bag before you use color on the inside. Start piping the meringues keeping a distance of 1 inch between the 2 meringues. Make sure you pipe them perpendicular or 90 degrees to the pan.
- Bake for 90 minutes until the kisses can easily be lifted off the parchment paper with bases intact. Once baked, let it cool in the oven for about 3 hours, whilst keeping the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Once they are cool, you can remove them gently from the parchment paper. Meringues stored in an airtight container will keep for up to two weeks.
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