I love cake and my husband loves pie. I'm occasionally nice and take a break from cupcakes and make him something he likes! This is the first time I used my Gregg's Favourite Puddings book. I really like this book. I think it will encourage me to branch out a little and make something I wouldn't normally (lots of British desserts I've never made or eaten before). I think after 8 years I should try more British desserts.
The pie came out amazing. It has a perfect ratio of pie filling to meringue. I even made the pie crust from scratch this time! I need more practice on my meringues though. I couldn't get it to have nice textured peaks on the top.
Lemon Meringue Pie
adapted from Gregg's Favorite Puddings
Ingredients
adapted from Gregg's Favorite Puddings
Ingredients
Crust
300g plain flour
150g chilled butter, diced into cubes
50g caster sugar
75g ground hazelnuts (I used ground almonds since you can buy them already ground)
1 egg yolk, beaten
2-3 tablespoons cold water
Filling
6 tbs cornflour
350ml water
zest and juice of 2 lemons (if they're hard roll on top of the counters with your hands to loosen the juice)
3 egg yolks
Meringue
3 egg whites
125g caster sugar
1. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the butter and with your (clean) hands rub the mixture between your finger tips until it's crumbly. Stir in the ground nuts and sugar.
2. Add the egg yolk and a few tablespoons cold water until it has a firm doughy consistency (I needed 4 tablespoons of water).
3. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and kneed a few times. Roll out and line your pie dish. Chill the crust for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 200 C. Cover in tin foil and place baking beans (or rice) on top and bake for 15 minutes. Remove tin foil and beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
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4. To make the filling stir the cornflour, water, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice together in a saucepan. Stir continuously over a medium low heat until thickened (this should happen just as it starts to boil). Remove from heat to cool for a few minutes.
5. Beat in the 2 egg yolks and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Return the pan to a low heat and cook for a few minutes longer. Mixture should thicken more. Let cool for a few minutes before spooning into the pie crust.
6. To make the meringue beat the egg whites in a large clean bowl until stiff peaks form. Beat in one tablespoon of the sugar, then fold in the rest of the mixture with a spoon.
7. Spoon the meringue on top of the lemon pie filling and bake for 10 minutes until brown on top.
Enjoy! It tastes really good chilled.
