Luscious Lemon Meringue Pie

Submitted by Frugal Fifer

"An easy tasty pie. I got the recipe from a friend, I found it a bit too sweet for me, but maybe you could play about and lower the sugar if you wanted to. Please top the pie with the meringue while the filling is still warm and cook straight away, it seems to give the best results. I made my own rich shortcrust pastry with some lemon rind through it and it was lovely, but a pre-made one is just as good."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 3 tablespoons cornflour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 2 lemons, juice and zest of, unwaxed
• 2 tablespoons butter (not marg)
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 (9 inch) pie crusts (bought or homemade)
• 4 egg whites
• 6 tablespoons caster sugar

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, 175°C.
2. Filling: using a medium saucepan, whisk together cup of sugar, flour, cornflour and salt. Stir in zest and juice of lemon and the water. Cook over medium heat till just boiling. Stir in the butter. Beat yolks together well in a bowl big enough to add a cup of the hot mixture to. Add a cup of the sugar mix, whisking all the time then add this back to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time till thick. Remove from heat and pour into pie case.
3. Meringue: Using a large clean bowl ( wipe out with remains of lemon and dry with paper towel to make sure there is absolutely no grease/residue in the bowl), whisk the whites till foamy, can be done by hand but I find the electric mixer does the best meringue for this. Add sugar gradually, whisking till you have the stiff peak stage (or you can try holding the bowl upside down above your head to make sure!)Also check at this point that all the sugar has dissolved by rubbing a small amount of mix between your fingers. continue whisking for a few minutes if it still feels grainy. If its smooth, drop the mixture all over the warm pie filling making sure to go right up to the edges smoothing out the gaps as you go. I like to make sure there are peaks all over the meringue as I love the chewy bits too.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, or till meringue is golden brown.
5. To enjoy at its best, let it cool down for a wee while before chilling for a few hours then serving with cream/ice cream. You will need to include the chilling time as I wasn't sure how to include that at the top.

Reviews

[Debber]

We enjoyed this very much---I haven't made a L.M. pie in decades, so this was a real treat! My daughter especially loved the little drops of "honeydew" on top of the meringue after it cooled. *Made for PAC Autumn 07*