NEW! Tarte Au Citron (LIDL)

It's French week at LIDL, which means that they are selling a whole host of spécialités françaises. Whilst I wasn't brave enough to try the frozen snails, I did like the sound of Tarte Au Citron (especially given my current love of all things lemon). At £1.99 for four individual desserts they weren't exactly bargain basement, but were still notably cheaper than most supermarket offerings. These Tartes weren't what comes to mind when it comes to the classic French patisserie dessert as instead they consisted of a biscuit base, lemon layer and a meringue topping. Err. Excuse me LIDL but isn't that a lemon meringue pie? 

I'd certainly give LIDL low marks for their choice of packaging as each Tarte came in what looked like a cat food tin. Fortunately they appeared far more appetising once the lids were removed and the cloud like meringue was revealed.

The topping was soft and mallowy. It missed the crispy top of a home-baked meringue, but it was still pleasant to eat. Underneath was layer of bright yellow sauce, which was refreshing and zingy in a lemon curd sort of way, but there just wasn't enough of it! The biscuity base reminded me of the middle layer of Cadbury's -much missed- Caramellionaire pots, for it was softer and more cake like than what you'd expect at the bottom of a cheesecake. 

Preconceptions aside, and despite my moans, I actually rather enjoyed these Tarte-Au-Citron-come-lemon-meringue-pies. They make a handy standby dessert, and I probably would buy them again.

7/10