These beautiful treats remind me of dressed up little ladies, all ready for a party. The only difference is they are so simple to prepare, unlike the hours of primping in front of the mirror for the ladies and the room left in shambles after trying on different outfits.
The tarts have such an unbelievable sandy, melt in your mouth texture. I am a firm believer that shortbread should still have lots of flavor and have a pleasant texture. Paired with a tart raspberry jam, a glossy and fluffy meringue filling and garnished with fresh berries, each scrumptious bite is perfect.
Tarts:
2 ½ sticks of butter (20 Tablespoons), softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Meringue:
5 egg whites
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Sugar syrup:
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
To Garnish:
raspberry jam
fresh raspberries
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a standing mixer using a paddle attachment, or using a large bowl and a hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth and then add the vanilla. 
Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and then add to the batter. Mix to combine. 
Distribute about 2 Tablespoons of the batter evenly into the tart shells. 
Bake the tarts for about 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool for about 10 minutes and then take the tarts out of the tart shells by holding the tart shell upside down over your other hand, gently pressing on the sides of the tart shells and the tarts should slide right out. Since there is so much butter in the batter, you don't need to grease the tart shells.
I bought my tart shells at Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are approximately 3 ½ inches across the top. I've seen them in many different stores. I know you can also use a muffin pan to make tarts, but I've never done it with this dough. You'll have to experiment if you want to use the muffin pan.
You can make the tarts a few days in advance.
To make the meringue, start by whisking your egg whites in a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or a large bowl and a hand mixer. 
Add the ¼ cup of sugar and cream of tartar and whisk the egg whites for about 10 minutes.
While the egg whites are being whipped, cook the syrup. Pour the sugar and water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until the syrup reaches the temperature of about 235-240. 
While the egg whites are mixing, pour the syrup carefully into the egg whites by streaming the syrup down the side of the bowl. Make sure not to get the syrup on the whisk attachment. 
Mix for another 5 minutes or so, until the meringue is glossy.
When the tarts have cooled, spread a small amount of raspberry jam on the bottom of the tarts. 
You can also use any other tart jam, like cranberry jelly, lemon curd, plum jam, black currant jam, etc. I wouldn't recommend using very sweet jam, since the pastries will be cloyingly sweet. Pipe the meringue into the tart shells. Garnish with fresh raspberries.
Another great idea is to mix up half Nutella and half cream cheese and use it instead of the raspberry jam and then garnish the top of the meringue with shaved chocolate and/or chopped nuts of any kind. It's much better if you fill the tarts right before serving, but you can make them up to a day in advance. The tarts themselves will soften a bit from the filling, but they should still look nice enough to serve. I never add fresh berries to anything until right before serving, because they will not look their best after a few hours.
Shortbread Tarts With Meringue Filling
Ingredients
Tarts:
- 2 ½ sticks of butter 20 Tablespoons, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Meringue:
- 5 egg whites
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Sugar syrup:
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup water
To Garnish:
- raspberry jam
- fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a standing mixer using a paddle attachment, or using a large bowl and a hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth and then add the vanilla.
- Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and then add to the batter. Mix to combine.
- Distribute about 2 Tablespoons of the batter evenly into the tart shells.
- Bake the tarts for about 15 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Cool for about 10 minutes and then take the tarts out of the tart shells by holding the tart shell upside down over your other hand, gently pressing on the sides of the tart shells and the tarts should slide right out. Since there is so much butter in the batter, you don't need to grease the tart shells. You can make the tarts a few days in advance.
- To make the meringue, start by whisking your egg whites in a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or a large bowl and a hand mixer.
- Add the ¼ cup of sugar and the cream of tartar and whisk the egg whites for about 10 minutes.
- While the egg whites are being whipped, cook the syrup. Pour the sugar and water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until the syrup reaches the temperature of about 235-240 degrees Fahrenheit.
- While the egg whites are mixing, pour the syrup carefully into the egg whites by streaming the syrup down the side of the bowl. Make sure not to get the syrup on the whisk attachment.
- Mix for another 5 minutes or so, until the meringue is glossy.
- When the tarts have cooled, spread a small amount of raspberry jam on the bottom of the tarts.
- You can also use any other tart jam, like cranberry jelly, lemon curd, plum jam, black currant jam, etc. I wouldn't recommend using very sweet jam, since the pastries will be cloyingly sweet. Pipe the meringue into the tart shells. Garnish with fresh raspberries.
- Another great idea is to mix up half Nutella and half cream cheese and use it instead of the raspberry jam and then garnish the top of the meringue with shaved chocolate and/or chopped nuts of any kind.
- It's much better if you fill the tarts right before serving, but you can make them up to a day in advance. The tarts themselves will soften a bit from the filling, but they should still look nice enough to serve. I never add fresh berries to anything until right before serving, because they will not look their best after a few hours.
Hi,
I am wondering, how long can the meringue last. Is it good idea to make it the day of serving, or can this be done in advance? Like a day or two? I already baked the tarts, but didn't fill them yet.
Meringue deflates over time. I wouldn't make it too far in advance, probably not more than a few hours.
Do you grease the cookie tins?
No, there is no need to grease the tart shells.
i love this. i used this recipe for a project at school.
That's awesome, Keyla!
oh, i added 4 cups of flour and it made my dough perfect and the tarts came out soft! on your recipie it says 3 cups of flour so i was a little confused!!
I'm so sorry, Angela! I got confused when I was answering your first comment. It's 3 cups of flour, not 4. It's correct in the recipe. For some reason, when I was reading your question, I thought for some reason that the recipe called for 4 cups and you had to add an additional cup. I should have looked at the recipe first, but I didn't have it on hand:). Sorry, again. I shouldn't answer comments after working 3 nights in a row:). In either case, I'm glad the tarts turned out for you.
hey olya...so i was making these tarts i had to add 4 cups of flour becasue my dough didnt look like yours in the picture. it was still pretty creamy untill i added an extra cup of flour! is that ok or is the dough supposed to be pretty creamy? and it was really sticking to my fingers!
The correct amount is 4 cups of flour. If you add more flour, the texture of the tarts will be much harder and tougher. The dough should be soft and tender.
Olya would it be ok if I added finely chopped walnuts into the meringue filling to give it a bit of a nutty flavor?
You can add walnuts to the meringue if you'd like, Tanya.
Hi Olya, is it possible to bake the tarts with the filling and meringue topping? That way the meringue is baked as well. I've seen it made that way before but am not sure if it would work for this recipe.
I wouldn't recommend it, Tanya. This is a different type of recipe. However, if you'd like, you can certainly try it out.
Oh do you happen to have the recipe for the ones with baked meringue? I'm afraid to try it out hehe. Btw you are my number one go to food blogger. Especially for sweets. Everything I've tried making turned out superb. Not too overly sweet, just the way I like it. And the directions are written out so clearly. Hard to mess up. Thank you so much for doing what you are doing. It gives us not so great bakers a chance to feel like we accomplished something. And everyone raves about how great those sweets are. Once again thank you!
No, I don't have the recipe, sorry, Tanya.
I'm so happy that the website is helpful and useful to you.
Wow!! interesting recipe! will try to make this version next time,never tries with cooked syrup.
I always make double batch of cookies/tarts and store them in a ziplock bag for the next time. I also use coolwhip with half a pack of cream cheese instead of the meringue 🙂
Great idea, Natalia!
An easier way to make the meringue is to combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl set over a water bath and beat with an electric mixer for about 8 mins. I do this all the time, works great and less hassle than making the syrup 🙂
Yes, you can do it that way too. I prefer this method, Tallya.
Awesome recipe. I've always wanted to make those. One question, in the recipe for meringue it calls for 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar, but in the instructions it doesn't mention it, unless I missed it? I want to make those in next couple of weeks for a birthday gathering. Seems like a simple recipe. Thank you
You're right, I did forget to write it into the recipe, Oksana. Sorry! I've added it to the instructions.
Simply amazing.
Pinning! What an amazing dessert from childhood!
I have been craving these for so long. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Olga. I dont have a thermometer. Is there another way to know that the syrup is done? Thanks
I've never tried it any other way, since I think a thermometer is really important in the kitchen for many different uses and is very inexpensive.
I know that there is a way to test it by putting a small amount of the syrup into cold water. It should be at the "soft ball stage", which means it will turn into a soft ball after a moment in the cold water. Check out this website for more info. http://baking911.com/quick-guide/how-to-az/candy-sugar-syrup-temperature-chart
Hope that helps, Liliya.