Gluten Free Meyer Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 'Tis the day of leprechauns, kissing the Irish and green food coloring in beer (or hard cider for those of us who can't have beer.) For me, today was a great excuse to relax for the first time in a while, which usually includes baking.

I'm not much for using food coloring, so instead of dying something green in honor of this festive day, I thought I would honor one of early spring's most precious gifts... the Meyer Lemon. This is one of my favorite things to use in baking. They have a great tang, but they also have such a distinct sweet floral flavor and fragrance. I know it's not the best homage to our Irish friends, but hey... I put them in a festive green cupcake liner!

This little cupcake is perfect for springtime; it is tender, fluffy, filled with zesty lemon curd, and topped with light and airy meringue. It may seem like a lot of steps, but it's not too bad, especially since you can make the lemon curd ahead of time.

The Lemon curd filling in these cupcakes leaves you with the perfect amount of egg whites leftover to make the meringue.

Meyer Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Prep Time: 30-40 minutes

Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

Baking Temperature: 375 F

Level Of Difficulty: Medium

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

The Cupcake

4 oz Butter (soft)

1 C Organic Cane Sugar

2 Whole Eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp Meyer Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp Meyer Lemon Zest

1 C Buttermilk

2/3 C Water

1.5 C (7.5 oz) Klippy's All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

The Lemon Curd

1 Whole Egg

3 Egg Yolks (*Save the whites for meringue)

6 Tbsp Organic Cane Sugar

1-2 Tbsp Lemon Zest

1/3 C Lemon Juice

4 oz Butter

Meringue Frosting

3 Egg Whites

6 Tbsp Organic Cane Sugar

Pinch Kosher Salt

1 tsp Lemon Juice

Method:

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs in one at a time and mix thoroughly, scraping down the sides in between. Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl whisk together the AP gluten-free flour with the salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add in half of the buttermilk and beat thoroughly on medium-high speed.
Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and blend on low-speed until just incorporated. Add the rest of the buttermilk and beat on medium low-speed, then add the water and beat again until fully incorporated.
Then add the rest of the flour and mix on low-speed until just incorporated, being careful not to over mix.
Scoop into lined muffin tins until 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle rack until they spring back when you touch them. Let them cool on wire racks.

Lemon Curd

To make the lemon curd, combine all of the ingredients in a glass or metal bowl and whisk over a Bain Marie until thick ribbons form.
Take off the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a separate bowl and let cool.
Start assembling the cupcakes by piping the lemon curd into the cupcakes. You can either use a thin tip attached to your piping bag and inject the curd into a few different spots, or you can cut out a small hole in the center and pipe a big dollop in the center. Once all of your cupcakes are ready, start your meringue frosting.

Meringue Frosting

To make the frosting, combine all the ingredients into a glass or metal bowl over a Bain Marie and whisk until it reaches between 150 and 160 degrees (very warm, but not hot to the touch).
Take off the heat and beat in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form.
Put immediately into a piping bag and frost the cupcakes. Then torch the top or put them back in an oven set to broil for a few minutes until the meringue is slightly golden.

These are some of my favorite cupcakes. Clearly I don't like overly sweet buttercream frostings for my cakes, so if you are like me, you will love these cupcakes too.

Happy Baking!