No rain today. Instead, it's retarded hot outside so I reckon something bright and sunny is the perfect thing to bake.
Lemon meringue pie isn't all that common here, and I don't know why that is. It's a great play on contrasting flavours and textures that come together so nicely. The slightly bland and crisp pie shell with a tart creamy custard, topped off with a sweet fluffy meringue. Luuurvely.
First, make the crust. If you can't be arsed, go ahead and use frozen pastry or even ready-made pie crust. Hey man, I ain't judging...
- 135g flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 90g cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 50ml cold water
Preheat oven to 175C.
Combine flour and salt in in an electric mixer. Add the butter and use dough hook attachment to beat until pea-sized nuggets form.
Add the water and continue to mix until dough just comes together.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough out into a circle that's 3cm larger than the pie tin. Line the greased pie tin with the dough and lightly prick the bottom with a form. Place a layer of baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice to weigh the shell down.
Bake for 30 minutes till golden brown. Let the pie shell cool completely while you make the filling.
- 385ml water
- 180g sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 35g cornstarch
- 2 egg yolks
- 20g butter
Combine 3/4 of the water, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together remaining water, cornstarch and egg yolk.
When the lemon juice mixture comes to a boil, temper the mixture with the yolk and cornstarch mixture. Put the combined mixture back on the stove on medium heat and boil until thickened. Once that happens, remove from heat immediately and stir in the butter.
Pour the filling into the pie shell and let cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge for a further 1 hour.
- 2 egg whites
- 200g caster sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Beat the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Pipe onto filled pie and bake at 220C for 3 minutes until meringue is lightly browned. If you have a butane torch, skip the oven altogether and simply burn the tops before serving.
More for the last meal:
ummm.... ya.... that looks amazing!
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