Around here - Lemon Meringue Pie

Last week I asked my friend if she had any spare lemons from her tree as I was going to make some lemon cordial.  I've never made my own cordial before however I wanted to give it ago.  Then a couple of days later I read Beth's latest blog post from on baking with lemons and apples and one of them was Lemon Meringue Pie.

  

I have made plenty of Lime Tarts in my life time and I think I've only ever made one lemon meringue pie and decided I was going to make one using my friends lemons.  It's one of those all day affairs, or should I say half day affair as you need to make the pastry first then let it cool.  Next you make the lemon filling and fill the pie and then put it into the fridge for 3 hours,  Lastly you make the meringue and then bake in the oven for 5 minutes or so.  Overall the time to make each individual thing is no longer than 15 minutes each however it's the time in between that makes up most of it.

I can say it was worth the effort as it was simply delicious.  Beth's recipe uses condensed milk as does my Lime Tart recipe however I used the Lemon Meringue Pie recipe which is in my TM31 Thermomix recipe book.  You could use a food processor to make your pastry and do your lemon filling on the stove top however the following recipe is the Thermomix one.  I found this recipe for you to make the lemon filling on the stove top if you don't have a Thermomix.

SHORT CRUST PASTRY

INGREDIENTS

200gms Plain Flour

100gms Butter, chilled and cut into pieces

1/4 teaspoon of salt

50-60ml water, chilled

Preheat oven to 200-220 degrees. [400F]

 

Place flour, butter and salt into TM bowl and mix for about 10 seconds on speed 6 until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Set dial to closed lid position.

Add water and knead for 10-20 seconds on interval speed [wheat icon] to from dough.

Add a little more water if necessary to bind.

Turn mixture onto floured board and knead lightly.

Wrap in cling wrap and put in refrigerator for about 15 minutes before rolling out to your desired pie dish size.

Place onto pie dish and trim overhang to 1cm and turn under flush with rim.  Scallop the edge with an inverted teaspoon, pressing down hard for each cut to form the design.  Prick bottom of pastry with fork.  Place baking paper and pie weights over your pie or you could use rice instead to weight it down.

Bake in pre-heated hot oven [200-220 degrees] for 8-12 minutes until golden brown and then allow to cool.

TIPS: Pastry shell will shrink after it cooks and also make sure all sides of pie crust is same height so filling doesn't leak out the sides.  The pie shell needs to be cooled completely before you start making the lemon filling.

LEMON FILLING  [see if for stove top recipe if you don't have a Thermomix]

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon of grated lemon rind [I used a micro plane]

300gms sugar

70gms cornflour

pinch of salt

400gms water

4 eggs - room temperature - separated [put egg yolks in one bowl & whites in another]

1/2 cup lemon juice [just a touch under don't fill to top] [or use TM cup/lid and fill]

60gms butter

METHOD

Place grated lemon rind, sugar, cornflour, salt, water and egg yolks into the TM bowl and cook for 10 minutes at 90 degrees on speed 4 until thickened.

Add lemon juice and butter through hole in lid and mix for 1 minute on speed 4.

Pour into cooled pastry shell and cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.

TIP the lemon filling will set immediately like jelly so you can place your cling wrap [plastic wrap] over the pie.  I was thinking it would be like liquid and the cling wrap would stick to it however that's not the case.  

MERINGUE

INGREDIENTS

4 egg whites [which was separated earlier on due to lemon filling]

1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

100gms icing sugar

METHOD

Insert "Butterfly" into Thermomix and place egg whites and Cream of Tartar into TM bowl.

Beat without the MC in place for 3-5 minutes at 50 degrees on speed 4 until stiff peaks form.

Add icing sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time through the hole in the lid with the blades rotating on speed 2-3. Take at least 2-3 minutes to incorporate the icing sugar.

Spread the meringue over the entire top of the lemon filling to the pastry edge.

Bake in hot oven for 3-5 minutes until meringue starts to colour slightly.

TIP - I baked my meringue for 5-8 minutes in my oven - just keep an eye on it.  The top is a soft meringue and not like a pavlova so it's not crunchy it's more like marshmallow.

I can highly recommend you make this as it's delicious and worth the effort.