Lemon meringue pie
This is the ultimate recipe for lemon meringue pie, explained step by step with a video for stunning results. Want a slice of lemon meringue pie? Make it yourself! A homemade shortcrust pastry, a perfectly sweet and tangy lemon curd, and a beautiful Italian meringue: how can you resist?! A guaranteed successful recipe ;-)
Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry:
Lemon curd:
Italian meringue:
Materials
- 11-inch pie pan
- Cooking thermometer
- Piping bag (optional)
- Torch (optional)
- Stand mixer or electric whisk
- Oven
Preparation
Shortcrust pastry:
In a bowl, put the softened butter, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, and powdered almonds, and combine to get a creamy and smooth mixture. Then, add the whole egg and mix well. The mixture should be a bit lumpy. Finally, add the flour and mix with your hands to form a smooth dough. Be careful not to knead more than necessary.
Wrap the flattened dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (Do not form it into a ball, as it will take much longer to chill.)
Roll out the shortcrust pastry and place it in the pie pan, pricking the bottom with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
Lemon curd:
Combine the eggs with the sugar and corn starch. Add the juice of 2 lemons and the zest of 1 lemon. Mix well, then thicken over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk.
Once the curd has thickened, remove it from the heat and add the butter cut into pieces. Mix until fully incorporated, then add the juice of 1 lemon. Mix well.
Pour this curd into the baked crust, smooth the surface, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Italian meringue:
Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, insert your thermometer: the syrup must reach 115°C.
While the syrup heats, start whisking your egg whites: they should start to foam. Once the syrup reaches 115°C, pour it in a thin stream over the egg whites while whisking.
Then, whisk at high speed until the bowl containing the meringue is no longer warm. This can take about 10 minutes.
Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe it onto the cooled lemon pie. If you don't have a piping bag, you can simply spread the meringue over the pie with a spatula.
Finally, brown the meringue using a torch. If you don't have one, place it under the broiler of your oven for 5 minutes.
And there you have it, your lemon meringue pie is ready!
Observations
Shortcrust pastry: be careful, this is not a dough that requires much kneading, on the contrary! Simply incorporate your ingredients to have a smooth dough, but do not work it more than necessary, or you risk having a crumbly or sandy dough.
If the edges of your pie are not neat after baking, feel free to use a grater to smooth them out.
Lemon curd: adding lemon juice after thickening the curd is not very conventional, but it will give more acidity to the curd, which is essential in a lemon meringue pie. If you find it too acidic, add the juice of the third lemon with the eggs at the beginning.
Butter: if you want to reduce the amount of butter, you can, but you will need to add corn starch for the curd to hold its shape.
Italian meringue: it is better to use egg whites at room temperature, which will whip better. The syrup temperature must really reach 115°C to properly cook the egg whites and give them that marshmallow-like texture we love. Even if you find it too sweet, it is strongly advised not to change the proportions of this recipe, which are ideal for the perfect texture of your meringue.
When it is whipping, prefer to overbeat it rather than underbeat it.
Nutrition
- Carbo: 56.3g
- Total fat: 19.8g
- Saturated fat: 10.8g
- Proteins: 9.2g
- Fibers: 2.1g
- Sugar: 34.4g
- ProPoints: 12
- SmartPoints: 20
Questions
Photos of members who cooked this recipe
Comments
Great results plenty likes I made individual tarts lovely
