These Blood Orange Meringue Pies offer a citrus-infused twist on a classic favorite, featuring a sweet and slightly tart blood orange filling paired with a heavenly meringue topping. Perfect for impressing friends and family or satisfying your sweet cravings.
Eating this blood orange meringue pie is an experience. You will get a mouthful of flaky, buttery pastry followed by a creamy and yet zingy blood orange curd and then the meringue will burst through in little shards, creating a party in your mouth!
The crispy meringue hats give this dessert an extra element of texture, adding to its charm even more. This pie recipe uses a Swiss meringue for the tops because the egg whites and sugar are partially cooked before the long whipping process begins; it creates a more stable mixture meaning it’s much more difficult for it to go wrong.
The colored swirls are created by running a toothpick dipped in gel food coloring haphazardly across the surface. There is a mixture of yellow swirls, red swirls, and pink swirls to emulate the inside of the blood oranges.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to Prepare. The steps required to make these pies are easy.
- A Fun Twist on Pie. Instead of making lemon curd, this pie uses blood oranges for a fun flavor twist.
- Individual Pies. Mini pies are always a delicious dessert to serve to loved ones or at dinner parties.
How to Make Blood Orange Meringue Pies
Blood orange meringue pies require a few steps to make but it is easy even for a beginner baker.
Key Ingredients
- Blood Orange. Fresh blood orange is preferred but blood orange juice can be substituted.
- All-Purpose Flour. Use this type of flour for a light and flaky crust.
- Butter. Non-salted butter works best in this recipe.
- Eggs. Use fresh egg whites for the meringue. It is important to use room-temperature eggs for the best meringue.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar is needed for the curd and meringue.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Make the Meringue. Mix the meringue ingredients in a bowl. Then heat the meringue on the stovetop. Once the meringue has been heated, whip it to stiff peaks.
2. Bake the Meringue. Spoon the meringue mixture into mounds and decorate the meringue tops with a little gel food coloring. Bake the meringue and once baked, turn off the oven and allow the meringue to continue drying.
3. Make the Pie Dough. Blitz together the flour and butter in a food processor until you have a fine breadcrumb-like mixture. Add the egg yolk and ice-cold water and blitz again until you have dough. Place the dough in the fridge.
4. Bake the Pie Dough. Once the pie dough has been rolled out and placed into the tart pans, bake the pie dough until golden brown.
5. Make the Blood Orange Curd. Cream the softened butter, sugar, and blood orange zest together until light and fluffy, add the egg and the orange juice. Simmer the mixture in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until thickened.
6. Assemble the Pies. Pour the curd into the baked and cooled pastry tarts. Allow to set for an hour at room temperature. Place a meringue on top of each tart and serve.
Recipe Tips, Variations, and Substitutions
- If fresh blood oranges are not available substitute with blood orange juice. The juice from fresh blood oranges is preferred but store-bought juice can be used instead.
- The blood orange curd will thicken as it cools. You do not need to overcook it.
Storage Recommendations
Store the assembled tarts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. Do not store the mini pies in the fridge because the Swiss meringue tops will become soggy.
Try These Other Desserts Recipes
- Red Kuri Squash Pie – A homey pie that’s not too sweet but is perfect for fall.
- Peaches and Cream Pie – A no-bake pie made with fresh peaches and herb-infused whipped cream.
- Triple Lemon Pie – This pie is infused with lemon from the lemon shortbread crust to the lemon curd filling.
- Fresh Fig and Blackberry Tart – A delicious tart that is made with ground almonds and piled high with fresh figs and blackberries.
- Banana Cream Pie – A comforting banana cream pie with a graham cracker crust and homemade vanilla pudding filling, topped with sliced bananas.
Blood Orange Meringue Pies
Equipment
- 1 food processor
- 1 stand mixer
- 4 mini tart pans
- 1 saucepan
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter chilled
- 1 egg yolk
Meringue
- 2 egg whites room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- food coloring orange and red gel
Blood Orange Curd
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1 blood orange zest and juice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
Instructions
Meringue
- Place the room-temperature egg whites and the sugar into the bowl from your stand mixer and mix to combine. On the stove, fill a saucepan with about 1.5 inches of water and bring to a simmer. You should be able to place the bowl of your stand mixer on top of the saucepan so that the steam can heat it, but the water does not touch the bowl.
- Once the water is simmering, place the bowl with the egg white mixture over it to create a double boiler. Mix by hand with a whisk constantly for 3 minutes. The sugar should completely dissolve. You can test if it is done by rubbing a small amount of mixture between your thumb and index finger. If it feels grainy, continue whisking over the steam until it is completely smooth.
- Transfer the bowl onto the stand mixer, attach the whisk, and beat on high speed for 10 minutes or until the bowl is completely cool. You will be left with a very stiff meringue that is almost marshmallowy in texture. You know the Swiss meringue is ready when there are stiff peaks that support themselves when the whisk is lifted out and turned over.
- Preheat the oven to 212⁰F (100⁰C). Line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon the mixture into 4 equal mounds slightly smaller in diameter than your tart tins. Use a spoon to even out the top of the meringues.
- Using a toothpick dipped into gel food coloring, swirl around the surface of the meringue to give a colorful marbled effect.
- Bake for 90 minutes. After 90 minutes turn off the oven and leave the meringues in it for another 30-60 minutes to continue drying. After this, they are done and should be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!
Pie Crust
- In a food processor, blitz together the flour and butter until you have a fine breadcrumb-like mixture. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of ice cold water and blitz again. The dough should come together into 1 piece, if it doesn’t add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until it does. Flatten the dough into a disc and cover tightly with cling film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 4 equal parts. Roll each section into a circle, about 1/8 inch thick, and line the mini tart pan. Once all four tart pans are lined with the pastry, put a piece of parchment paper or tin foil on top and fill each one with baking beans.
- Turn the oven to 356⁰F (180⁰C) and put the tarts in the fridge while the oven warms up.
- Bake the pie dough with the baking beans or pie weights for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and parchment paper and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Allow the pie dough to cool fully then place in an airtight container until ready to use.
Blood Orange Curd
- Using a stand mixer, cream the softened butter, sugar, and blood orange zest together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the orange juice and mix again until evenly combined.
- Place the mixture in a saucepan and cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not let the mixture boil. It will thicken as it cooks.
Assembly
- As soon as the blood orange curd is done, pour it straight into the baked and cooled pastry tarts. Allow to set for an hour at room temperature.
- Place a meringue on top of each tart and serve.
My mouth is watering. Thanks for adding this post to the Bloggertunities share list. I’ll be sharing on my Fri Faves today.
Thank you! I’m so glad you like them! Look forward to seeing your post!
Can you believe I’ve never had a blood orange?! This recipe makes me want to go buy some right now. They look amazing!
No Way!! You MUST try them they are amazing! I have another blood orange recipe coming next week haha! xx
They look wonderful! And I get excited about how blood oranges look too :) And taste!
Thanks Kay! They are very easy to get excited about :D
Wow, these are gorgeous, and yummy I’m sure!
Thank you Heather! I am so obsessed with Blood Oranges, think they make a nice change to a lemon meringue pie! xx