I was craving something with a sharp, lemony flavour and a buttery pastry, and the one that came to my mind was lemon meringue, even though I had never made this before. After researching a few recipes, I combined a couple of them to bring out the best version I imagine.
The egg custard flavour is nice, so I added extra egg yolks from the British traditional recipe. A runny meringue isn’t appetising so I swapped it with an Italian meringue so it keeps its shape even when you leave the pie the next day.
A little history:
Lemon meringue pie started in Britain in the 1700s as lemon tarts, brought through the Mediterranean trade, and was made with eggs and cornflour. Since sugar was very expensive, the dessert was sharp and plain. Meringue is credited to Swiss and French cooks and was later added to the pie. Italian meringue is a cooked meringue that developed in Europe when cooks learned to pour hot sugar syrup into whipped eggs and found it more stable. The British version of lemon meringue is soft and lightly sweet, and later the US popularised sweeter pies. All versions use the same simple ingredients: eggs, sugar and the star of the recipe...
a bright lemon flavour.
Let's do it!
🍋 Lemon Meringue Pie
Serves: 8 to 10
You'll Need a pie dish (8 to 9 inch) round
Ingredients:
🥧Shortcrust Pastry
200 g plain flour
100 g very cold unsalted butter, cubed
30 g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1 - 2 tbsp ice-cold water
🥧 Silky Lemon Filling (Curd-Style)
Zest of 4 unwaxed lemons
200 ml fresh lemon juice
200 g caster sugar
5 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
60 g unsalted butter
15 grams of corn starch
🥧 Italian Meringue
4 egg whites
220 g caster sugar
75 ml water
Pinch of salt
½ tsp lemon juice
Method:
🥧 Shortcrust
Rub butter into flour + salt until sandy.
Stir in icing sugar.
Add egg yolk and just enough water to bring together.
Wrap and chill 1 hour.
Roll out
Line a pie dish
Blind bake at 180°C:
15 min with weights
10 min without. Set aside.
🥧Silky Lemon Filling (Curd-Style)
Whisk sugar, cornflour, eggs & yolks in a heatproof bowl.
Whisk in lemon juice
Then the zest.
Set over gently simmering water.
Stir constantly until thick and glossy (about 10 minutes).
Remove from heat; whisk in butter until smooth.
Pour immediately into the hot pastry case.
Set aside, let cool a bit.
🥧 Italian Meringue
Mix water and sugar.
Heat up while stirring constantly.
Heat up until about 115 to 120 degrees Celsius.
Whip egg whites + salt to soft peaks.
Slowly pour hot syrup into whites while whisking.
Whip until bowl is cool and meringue is thick and glossy. Beat in lemon juice.
To finish up ...
Pipe or Spoon meringue onto filling.
Bake at 160°C for 10 minutes until just coloured.
Cool slowly, then chill at least 4 hours before slicing.
A slice the next day, the meringue kept its shape and was not runny, just as expected.
And ohh! the lemony smell can brighten you up!
A lovely treat after hard work. The silky filling is tart, sweet, but not overpowering, with a little bitterness from the zest, and this marshmallow-like meringue is so fluffy on the tongue.
Have a lovely day,
Mariah 💕