The most spring-y dessert ever! Pie base, tangy lemon curd and sweet baked meringue on the top.
Spring is finally here! Every tree is blossoming, there are thousands of different colorful flowers all around the place and you can smell that typical spring scent in the air. I love it! Winter was really long and extremely cold here in Hungary, so I can’t even tell you how excited I am for spring and summer. I have thousands of recipe ideas with fruits and I can’t wait to bake them.
Lemon meringue pie is one of my favourite spring time dessert. I like to bake it around this time of the year, because it has that really fresh flavour.
This is my recipe for this pie. I don’t like when the curd is made with cornstarch or gelatin, so mine always turns out a little bit less nicely when you cut it. This time I used giant lemons so the curd was little bit more runny than I would imagined. This is the reason why you can’t see the pie base on the photos but that is there. I swear. If your lemons are as giant as mine take away one tablespoon from the juice so the curd won’t be as runny as mine.
The pastry is the easiest thing to make. The key is to use really cold ingredients. Usually I put the cubed butter and the water in the freezer for 10 minutes before using them. Then you put everything into a food processor and your base is done. You can use a fork instead to make a crumbly mixture then use your hands to work the dough together. Just make sure to work as fast as you can so it doesn’t get warm.
This time I used my new cake ring. (yeees I finally got one) I set it to 8 inches or 20 cm and I put it on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. You can use a regular pie plate instead.
I made a simple curd as I have made before the Spicy Orange Curd and the filling for the Lemon Meringue Pie Cake. The last component of this pie is the amazing sweet meringue on the top. The meringue itself is really sweet but the sourness of the curd balances it out perfectly and they are unbelievably delicious together.
Make this really fast pie this weekend, because it’s easy, delicious and perfect in this beautiful spring season!
Lemon Meringue Pie
Prep Time: 30 min. Baking Time: 30 min. Total Time: 1,5 hours Portions: 8 slices
Ingredients:
Pie dough:
1 and 1/3 cups or 175g all-purpose flour
7 tablespoons or 100g cold butter (cubes)
1 tablespoon or 15g powdered sugar
1 egg yolk (keep the egg white, you will need it for the meringue)
2 tablespoons cold water
¼ teaspoon salt
Lemon curd:
4 medium- large lemons (zest and juice)
½ cup or 100g granulated sugar
1 whole egg and 3 egg yolks (keep the egg whites for later)
6 tablespoons or 85g butter (cubed)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon water
Meringue:
4 egg whites
1 and 2/3 cups or 333g powdered/icing sugar
a drop of lemon juice (optional)
Directions:
Pie Base:
Put the flour, the powdered sugar and the cold butter into a food processor and pulse until it is a crumbly, wet sand texture.
Add the cold water, egg yolk and salt. Pulse again until it becomes a dough.
Turn the dough out and cover it with plastic wrap. Put it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough until ¼ cm thick .
Set your 8 inch or 20 cm cake ring onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Butter the inside of the ring. Or butter a 9 inch pie plate.
Carefully lift the dough into the cake ring or the pie dish. I used the cake ring method this time. I pushed the dough to the bottom and I left around 1 and ½ inch or 4 cm on the sides so it had quite high „wall” around. I cut off the extra pieces and pushed it into the bottom. If you make it in a pie plate, just evenly push the dough into the plate and leave a little bit extra at the edges.
Pierce it with a fork then put it back to the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 400F or 200C.
Bake the pie base for 15-20 minutes or unti lthe edges are golden brown. While it’s still warm carefully cut the edges, so it’s neat and level.
Lemon Curd:
Put the lemon juice, zest, sugar in a metal or glass bowl. Start cooking it on a bain-marine. ( Fill a pot with water and start boiling it. Then put the metal or glass bowl on top of the pot. Be careful and make sure that the bottom of the bowl isn’t in the water and the bowl is big enough. When you stir the curd use a kitchen cloth to hold the bowl because it can be hot.)
Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Mix in the cold butter.
When all the butter is melted, take it off from the stove and add the egg and the yolks while you stir it with a whisk or a spoon. (Make sure you stir so the yolks don't cook. Nobody wants crumbled eggs in their curd )
In a small bowl mix the flour and water together, then add it to the curd.
Put it back to the stove and stir continuously until it’s cooked and thickened.
If you curd has some cooked egg pieces pass it through a sive with a spatula.
Let it cool down a little bit. Cover it with some plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until completely cold.
Meringue and assembling the pie:
Preheat your oven again to 400F or 200C.
In a large bowl of a standing mixer start to beat up the egg whites with a drop of lemon.
When the whites are at a soft peaks form, slowly start to add the sugar one tablespoon a time. Beat until it’s really white, shiny and stiff.
Fill the cold pastry shell with the curd then cover it wiht the meringue. I used a sptula to make swirls in it.
Bake it for 8-10 minutes or until the top is hardened but don’t over bake it!
Let it cool down a bit, so you can slice it easier.
