Lemon Meringue Pie

Let’s bake a lemon meringue pie – is there anything better?

Makes: 1 x Deep dish 8″ Pie

Ingredients:

Pastry

225g plain flour

100g butter, cold diced

30g caster sugar

6-8 tbsps cold water

Lemon Filling

Zest and juice of 4 lemons

100ml cold water

90g butter

4 egg yolks, large

100g caster sugar

3 tbsps cornflour dissolved in 4 tbsps cold water

Meringue

4 egg whites

2 tsp cornflour

225g caster sugar

Pastry case first. In a food processor blitz the cold butter into the flour until the mixture is fine. Add the sugar and blitz again.

With the processor running add the water slowly a tablespoon at a time until the pastry starts to come together.

Gather it together, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Grease your pie dish (I love this deep dish tin, a Fat Daddio pan by Alan Silverwood).

Roll out the pastry. With deep dishes it’s often easier to roll it out between 2 sheets of clingfilm.

When it reaches the right size peel away the top sheet and use the bottom sheet to help you lift it and ease it into the tin (clingfilm side up).

Once you’re happy with the positioning of the pastry simply peel away the clingfilm and trim the excess from the pastry case neatly with a sharp knife.

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Place it in the fridge to chill for a good hour until completely firm.

Once the pastry is firm preheat the oven to 180c (fan)/200c/Gas Mark 6.

Prick the base of the case with a fork, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans.

Bake the case for 12 minutes before carefully removing the beans and paper and return to the oven for a further 8 minutes until the base of the case is completely cooked through.

Allow to cool. Remove from the tin and set onto a baking tray (when it comes to adding the meringue, having the pie already out of the tin means it’s easier to seal in the filling and you don’t seal the pie into the tin too!)

Now onto the lemon filling. Put the zest, juice, water and butter into a pan. In a large jug whisk together the egg yolks and the caster sugar, then whisk in the dissolved cornflour.

Heat the pan until the butter melts and the mixture is about to boil. Take it off the heat and whisk it into the egg mixture a little at a time.

Return the filling to the pan and over a medium heat whisk continuously until the mixture thickens considerably. Pour into the pastry case.

So now for the meringue. Whisk the egg whites with the cornflour (it helps the meringue keep it’s shape) until they are nice and foamy, then continuing to mix adding the caster sugar 1 spoonful at a time until it has all been incorporated. Carry on whisking until the meringue is thick and glossy and will hold it’s shape.

Add the meringue to the top of the pie, piling it up in the middle. Spread using the back of a spoon so that the meringue touches the edge of the pastry case sealing the lemon filling inside.

Bake it in the oven (at 180c fan) for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden on top and serve straight away.

Lemon meringue pie can have a tendency, if you’re not careful, for the meringue to leak syrup as it cools. With that in mind it’s best to bake it just before you want to serve it. If you want to get ahead with your prep make the pie case and filling, adding the meringue and baking at the last minute.