Hibiscus Strawberry Curd Tarts with Toasted Meringue {gluten-free}

May 1, 2015 by Sarah Menanix

Last updated on August 2nd, 2019

The first time I made this hibiscus strawberry curd tart, I took the last little tart over to our neighbors to thank them for the various eggs, butter, and cups of sugar they’re constantly lending me. Ulterior motive: to resist eating two tarts in one day.

Only they didn’t answer their door.

So I ate that “extra” tart as soon as I walked back in my house. I wasn’t even hungry. I reasoned that I was saving it from an ant attack if I left it on their porch. I could have put it in the fridge and tried again later, but I just couldn’t take it staring at me any longer. This tart has the sweetest puppy dog eyes you just can’t turn down.

I served that first version of these tartlets when our friends came for dinner last weekend. As often happens in our house, they showed up while I was still taking pictures and I showed them this sugar shot above (channeling Alanna’s captivating steam pictures). As soon as one of them asked what it was, the second instantly chimed in, “smoke, duh.”

Only it’s not. It’s sugar! Fooled ya!

Same thing happened when I was 10 years old and the police questioned my friends and I for smoking candy cigarettes and drinking soda out of our dad’s old beer bottles on the side of the road just down from our campsite. (This is totally normal, guys. <— I have to say that too often…) For some reason I don’t think the cops of today would have just tasted our “beer” and let us on carry on our shenanigans with a “Gotchya!”

Did you know that when you food process sugar, it puffs like a cloud of smoke? So realistic that you might think somehow a cup of sugar made your food processor overheat causing you to rip the cord from the wall likety-split. (Not that I would know…)

To taste test hibiscus’s impact on this filling, I made the strawberry curd two ways – one with hibiscus and one without. The results were fascinating – hibiscus has flower power. Not only does it give the curd multiple flavor notes – sweet strawberry with a tart citrus hint on top – but it imparts a Barbie pink hue.

Without hibiscus, the strawberry curd tasted like, well, strawberries, but the egg yolks made it look like muted hummus. And nobody wants to eat a sweet hummus tart.

For Hibiscus Strawberry Curd Tart 2.0, I swapped out an overly tart hibiscus Chantilly cream for a light and airy toasted meringue. I left for a dinner party before I could take a tartlet to the neighbors, but texted Lucas, “Can you take the tart in the fridge next door?”

This way I wouldn’t be the one to accidentally eat it if they didn’t answer their door. Again.

(They answered…as if they were holding out for the final recipe.)

These dainty pink treats taste like a toasted lemon meringue tart with sweet strawberry notes. Swirled inside a crumbly gluten-free almond crust with a heavy dose of glossy meringue plopped on top and toasted, this hibiscus strawberry curd tart will steal your heart. And your willpower.

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Hibiscus Strawberry Curd Tart with Toasted Meringue {gluten-free}

Yield: Four 5-inch tartlets or one 8" or 9" tart

Ingredients

Gluten-free Almond Crust

3/4 cup (90g) almond flour/almond meal
1/2 cup (60g) gluten-free oat flour*
2 tablespoons (16g) sweet rice flour (different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour")
2 tablespoons (16g) tapioca starch or tapioca flour
¼ cup (30g) powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes