Heavenly Lemon Meringue Pie by Katyanne Topping
Desserts
Why this recipe is special:
This Lemon Meringue Pie, unlike so many others, creates a perfect balance between the sourness of the filling, and sweetness of the meringue, making it simply divine, hence the name. It's worth the effort for this melt-in-your-mouth dessert. PERFECT
Serves: 10
Ingredients:
Pastry:
1/2 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
120g cold butter cut into pieces
1 large egg
Lemon Filling:
6 1/3 tablespoons of cornflour
3/4 sugar
180 ml (2/3 cup) lemon juice
230 ml (2/3 and 1/4 cup) water
60g butter, cut into pieces
3 large egg yolks
Meringue:
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 large egg whites
Method:
1. Make the pastry - place the flours, sugar and butter, and process for about 20 seconds, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, and there are no large chunks of butter.
TIP: if you don't have a food processor, you can always 'rub' the butter into the mixture - it just takes a bit longer to get the same result.
2. Add the egg and process again until incorporated, and the mixture clumps together.
3. Form the dough into a flattened round, wrap in gladwrap, and place in the fridge for at least one hour.
4. Make the Lemon Filling - in a medium saucepan, combine cornflour, sugar and lemon juice, and stir until smooth.
5. Place the saucepan over a medium to high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches the boil, which will probably take around 7 to 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, and continue to stir for another 30-40 seconds, or until the mixture becomes transparent instead of cloudy, and becomes thick and smooth.
6. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and vigorously stir in the chopped butter and egg yolks, until the butter has melted, and the ingredients are well combined.
7. Pour the lemon filling into a container, and refrigerate until cool and set.
8. Preheat the oven to 180 oC
9. Roll out the pastry, either on a lightly floured board, or between two sheets of baking paper, so it will fit a 23cm (9 inch) pie dish - it should be about 29cm in diameter, and about 4mm thick. Spray the pie dish with cooking spray, or grease with butter. Lift the pastry into the pie dish, and gently press it down.
TIP: i roll the pastry onto the rolling pin, so that the middle of the pastry is supported by the rolling pin, and the sides are hanging down, then i place the first side onto the pie dish, and roll it out - this makes the pastry so much easier to transport
10. Trim off some overhanging pastry, but not too much, as the pastry does have a tendency to shrink a little while cooking, so leave some on.
11. Place a piece of baking paper on top of the pastry, and fill with blind baking weights, eg. uncooked rice or pastry weights.
12. Bake at 180oC for 10 minutes, before taking it out and removing the weights, and baking again for another 10-15 minutes, until the pastry shell is a light golden colour. Allow it to cool completely.
13. Preheat the oven to 200oC.
14. Make the Meringue - beat egg whites until soft peaks form , then add the sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Once all of it has been added, continue beating until the sugar has dissolved, and the meringue is thick and glossy.
TIP: to check the sugar has dissolved, rub a little of the meringue between your fingers - if you can feel any of the granules, it hasn't dissolved yet.
15. Spoon the lemon filling into the cooled pastry shell, and dollop the meringue on top, and spread to cover filling. Using a spoon to lift it up, and let it fall, creating 'peaks' in the meringue.
16. Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the meringue is just slightly coloured.
17. Serve. :-)
