Rhubarb & Blackberry Meringue Pies
Iain R created this dish for Great British Bake Off ™ Series 16. Prue Leith called this complex bake absolutely beautiful and praised how every element came together, while Paul Hollywood admired the perfectly baked pâte sucrée and the tartness playing against the almond frangipane. This Fix-It preserves every praised element — the crisp case, the frangipane, the blackberries, the vanilla Italian meringue and the decorative rhubarb batons — and corrects only the single noted fault, that the rhubarb gave tartness without its flavour, by roasting and reducing the rhubarb rather than boiling it to a watery compote.
- Time: 180 min
Source: Relaxed Recipes
Ingredients
- FOR THE PÂTE SUCRÉE
- Unsalted butter, cold — 125g , cubed
- All-purpose flour — 225g
- Fine salt — 1g
- Icing sugar — 60g
- Egg yolks — 2
- Cold water — 5–10ml , to bring together
- FOR THE ROASTED RHUBARB
- Rhubarb — 400g , cut in 2.5cm/1-in batons
- Granulated sugar — 50g
- Orange zest — from ½ orange
- Grenadine — 5ml , or a little grated ginger
- FOR THE ALMOND FRANGIPANE
- Unsalted butter, soft — 100g
- Caster sugar — 100g
- Large egg — 1
- Ground almonds — 100g
- All-purpose flour — 10g
- Almond extract — 1ml , reduced so the rhubarb leads
- Reduced rhubarb syrup — 15ml , from the roasting
- FOR ASSEMBLY & TOPPING
- Fresh blackberries — 125g , 2–3 per pie
- Extra rhubarb batons — 115g , roasted, for the glaze
- FOR THE VANILLA ITALIAN MERINGUE
- Egg whites — 3 large, room temperature
- Cream of tartar — 1g
- Granulated sugar — 200g
- Water — 60ml
- Vanilla extract — 5ml
- EQUIPMENT
- hole mini-tart tin
- Rolling pin and a round cutter to fit the tin
- Baking beans or rice
- Roasting tin or baking sheet
- Small saucepan
- Stand mixer with whisk attachment
- Digital sugar thermometer
- Piping bag with a star or plain nozzle
- Kitchen blowtorch
- Fine-mesh sieve