Passion fruit tart with meringue topping

Make the pastry crust:

1. In a stand mixer: Stir the flour with salt and powdered sugar together, add the cold, cut into cubes butter and mix with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water (just enough to bind the dough together), mix until almost combined. Gather the dough and gently form a smooth ball, do not overwork it.
2. In a food processor: Add the flour, powdered sugar, and diced cold butter to the food processor bowl (with the S-blade attached). Pulse a couple of times until the butter pieces are the size of large peas (they can be of different sizes). Add cold water and pulse until the dough begins to come together (be careful not to overmix it). Transfer the dough pieces onto a work surface, and gather them with your hands, forming a dough ball.
3. By hand: stir the flour with powdered sugar and salt together, add the cold diced butter, rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips (or chop it with a large knife) until it resembles a pea-sized crumble, add cold water, knead quickly until dough forms a smooth ball (be careful not to over mix it).
4. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in a cling film, and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

Blind-bake the pastry crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F / 180 °C / Gas Mark 4, no fan.
2. Grease lightly a 9-inch / 23 cm round tart pan with butter.
3. Remove the dough from the fridge, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's large enough to fit into the tart pan. Transfer the dough into the pan, press it into the corners (the dough should cover the bottom and about 1-inch (2.5 cm) of the sides of the pan), cut off any excess dough. Put in the fridge while the oven warms up.
4. Blind-bake the pastry crust (without the curd and the meringue): prick the dough with a fork in several places, line with a sheet of baking paper, and fill to the top with dry beans/dry rice/dry chickpeas/ceramic baking weights, pressing them into the corners and sides.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the paper with the beans and bake for another 15 minutes until the crust is golden.
6. While the crust is baking, prepare the curd and the meringue (it will take about 20 minutes, not counting the juicing of passion fruits).

Make the passion fruit curd:

1. Make the curd using a double boiler method - prepare a medium pot and bowl (glass or metal). Place the bowl over the pot with boiling water, the bowl can't touch the water surface.
2. Add all ingredients for the curd (except for the eggs and the yolk), whisk until the butter and sugar dissolve (over medium heat).
3. Reduce the heat to the minimum, add the eggs and the egg yolk, let the curd steam gently, until thickened. It will take about 10 minutes, at first, you have to mix sporadically, at the end very often. The curd should have a pudding consistency.
4. Remove the baked crust from the oven, pour a warm curd into the crust.

Make the meringue:

1. Add the egg whites into a clean and dry bowl. Beat them with a whisk attachment at high speed until soft peaks are formed – the meringue will be fluffy and if you lift the beater upwards, peaks will form, but they will move sideways when moving the beater.
2. At this stage, we add the sugar, teaspoon by teaspoon, waiting for a while after each addition, until it’s combined with the egg whites, mixing all the time at medium-high speed.
3. When all the sugar has been added, mix the meringue for another minute. It should be very thick and glossy.
4. Transfer the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a big round tip (or a large plastic bag with a corner cut off), and pipe small rounds onto the passion fruit curd. You could also just spread it on top with a spatula.

Bake the tart:

1. Put the tart into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. It's ready when the meringue is lightly browned - it will be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
2. Enjoy!