Spooky mini vegan lemon tarts, with a 3 ingredient buttery shortcrust base, raspberry compote, lemon curd topped with a meringue ghost, perfect for spooky season. Vegan, No-Egg, No-Dairy and easy to make.
This recipe has been made in collaboration with Good Good Brand. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. (For more information along with affiliated links, check out my disclosure policy.)
Vegan Lemon Ghost Tarts
Get into the Halloween spirit with these delightful mini vegan lemon tarts, featuring a tangy raspberry filling and a spooky twist! Each tart is topped with a fun meringue ghost, made from aquafaba for a light and airy vegan touch. Perfectly balancing sweet, tart, and eerie, these treats are sure to enchant your guests and satisfy your sweet tooth.
Looking for more spooky recipes, check out my:
- Vegan Coffin Brownies
- No-Bake Frankenstein Cheesecake Bars
- Easy Vegan Ghost Doughnuts
- Peanut Butter Spider Cookies (Vegan)
- Viral Vegan Pumpkin Doughnuts
- Vegan Jack Skellington Cookies
- Triple Chocolate Vegan ‘Ghost’ Brownies
Why you’ll love these little tarts –
- Spooky and fun: The cute meringue ghosts on top each tart add a playful Halloween touch that’s perfect for gatherings or spooky parties.
- Perfect flavour combination: The tart lemon curd pairs beautifully with the tangy raspberry compote, creating a delightful flavour combination.
- Vegan-friendly: Made entirely with plant-based / vegan ingredients, these mini tarts are suitable for everyone, including vegans and those with dairy or egg allergies.
- Easily made gluten-free: This recipe is easily made gluten-free by switching to a wheat-free flour.
- Light and airy meringue: The aquafaba-based meringue ghosts are fluffy, light and crisp, providing a delicious melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Individually sized: Mini tarts are perfect for portion control and make for an elegant dessert presentation.
- Impressively homemade: These tarts look and taste like they came from a gourmet bakery, trust me! You’re guests will definitely be questioning you- haha!
- Holiday ready: Great for Halloween parties / celebrations, versatile enough to enjoy throughout the Autumnal / Fall season.
- Cute: The chocolate ghost faces are super fun, and cute – no everything has to be scary for halloween and these desserts prove just that!
Layers to these mini lemon tarts
These mini lemon tarts are a beautifully layered dessert, with each component contributing to its unique texture and flavour. The mini tarts have 4 layers –
- Base : The base layer is a homemade, 3 ingredient shortcrust pastry that provides a melt in the mouth foundation for the fresh and fruity fillings.
- Raspberry compote: The first layer is a simple homemade raspberry compote which is tart and tangy, a scrumptious contract from the buttery base and zingy lemon curd.
- Lemon curd: The vibrant lemon curd is thick, cream and bursting with tangy citrus flavour. You can use homemade or store bought. I use the GoodGoodBrand Vegan Lemon Curd. This curd is
- Meringue ghost: Each tart is topped with a homemade vegan meringue ghost. The meringue is made using aquafaba (chickpea brine), and decorated with melted dark chocolate for the ghost face details. Paired with the lemon curd and base, it gives the flavour profile of a lemon meringue pie!
Tips and tricks
- Meringue ghosts: Add the meringue ghost on top of each tart just before serving. The moisture from the tart fillings can dissolve the meringue.
- Make the meringue ghosts day of serving. They don’t store very and may become soft and sticky.
- Pastry : Don’t roll the pastry too thin or the filings may ooze out. As they are very buttery and soft, roll them quite thick. It makes for a delicious ‘melt in the mouth’ pastry.
- Storing : Store the tarts in an air tight / sealed container in the fridge. Best enjoyed within 2 days of making.
- You can use store bought vegan lemon curd, or make my simple vegan homemade lemon curd which is gooey, zesty and zingy linked here.
If you make, and love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you & happy baking! Make sure to tag me in your photos on Instagram , TikTok and Facebook! And if you want to pin this recipe for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, above or below this post, or on any of the photos. Happy baking all!
Mini Vegan Lemon Tarts
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 12–15 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Mini vegan lemon tarts, with a buttery base, raspberry compote, lemon curd and a meringue ghost. Perfect for spooky season. Vegan, No-Egg, No-Dairy and easy to make!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Ingredients for the base
- 250g of plain / all purpose flour
- 50g of caster sugar
- 200g of dairy-free block butter
Ingredients for the raspberry compote
- 1 + 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch + 1 tablespoon of water
- 300g of fresh / frozen raspberries
- 200g of caster sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice
Ingredients for the lemon curd
- 1 jar of Good Good Brand Vegan Lemon Curd (you can also use homemade)
Ingredients for the meringue ghosts
- 80ml of chickpea brine (aquafaba)
- 1/4 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
- 50g of caster sugar
- 40g of dairy-free dark chocolate
Instructions
Method (base)
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC fan and lightly grease mini tartlet tins with dairy-free butter. This recipe will make more or less tarts depending how much pastry and filling you use for each tart.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in the flour and sugar. Stir to combine. Add in the butter and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until a crumbly dough forms.
- Flour a clean work surface, and roll out the pastry using a rolling pin. Use a circle cookie cutter slightly larger than the tartlet tin to chomp out circles of pastry. Press the pastry inside the greased tin to fit snug (refer to video for reference). Use a fork to prick the base. This will help steam escape and not puff up as much when baking. Repeat for all the pastries.
- Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden in colour. As they may have risen in the middle, don’t worry.. simply use the base of a rolling pin or something flat to push the bases down.
- Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the raspberry filling.
Method (raspberry compote)
- Stir the cornflour and water together to form a paste. Add all of the raspberry compote ingredients into a medium sized saucepan. Place on top onto the hob over a medium to high heat and bring to the boil. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning. It will start to turn thick. Once thick, remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. As it cools, it will thicken up even more and turn jelly-like.
- Divide into each tartlet case. Place in the fridge to cool down before adding on the lemon curd.
- Spoon a layer of lemon curd on-top of the cooled down raspberry compote. Don’t add the curd when the compote is hot or it may turn very wet and runny.
- Place the tarts in the fridge while you make the meringue ghosts.
Method (meringue ghosts)
- Transfer the chickpea brine (aquafaba) and apple cider vinegar to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand-held electric whisk or stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment, whisk for around 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture has doubled in size and holds a peak.
- While it’s still whipping on high, sprinkle in the sugar a-little at a time until its all in the bowl. Whip until for a further 5 minutes until it’s glossy and stiff.
- Preheat the oven to 100°C fan and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle. Hold the piping bag vertically upright and pipe the ghosts by applying pressure then lifting off to a little peak. Repeat until all of the meringues has been piped. Tip: the meringues will puff up slightly when baking so give them room to spread out.
- Bake the meringues in the middle of the oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours, turn the oven off and leave the meringues inside for a further 1 hour so they dry. During this time, do not open the oven or the meringue may not firm out.
- Decorate the meringue by melting some dark chocolate in a microwave or bain-marie, transfer into a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- Pipe two dots for the eyes and a larger circle for the ghost mouth.
- Place a meringue ghost on top of each tart.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
To store: Store the tarts separately from the meringue. keep the tarts fresh in an air tight / sealed container in the fridge and allow the pastry to come to room temperature before enjoying. Best eaten within 2-3 days of making.
Make the meringue fresh day of making.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10-15 minutes
- Category: Pastry
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
