RECIPE for Lemon Meringue Pie

Hey everyone i thought i would do something different today and share with you my Recipe for My Lemon Meringue Pie.....For as long as i can remember my favourite dessert was Lemon Meringue and these days i found it quite hard anywhere to get that Perfect Lemon Meringue be it in a cafe, restaurant or shops, it can either be too lemony, too sweet, the pastry too soggy etc......So one day i just took it in myself to try and bake one for myself i looked up recipes and and tried lots of different ways until eventually i got it just right....Today im going to share with you my recipe: 

My masterpiece 

First of all For those of you who dont know what a Lemon Meringue Pie is i will explain:  Lemon meringue pie is a type of baked pie, usually served for dessert, made with a pastry base, lemon curd filling and a fluffy meringue topping. Lemon meringue pie is typically prepared with a bottom pie crust, but with no upper crust; e. g., the meringue is directly on top of the lemon filling. The dessert has been enjoyed since Medieval times, but the recipe for meringue was not perfected until the 17th century.

The Ingredients 

Pastry

225g / 8oz  Cream Plain Flour 
50g / 2oz caster sugar
150g / 5oz Margarine (room temperature) 
1 Egg Yolk 
1 Tablespoon Cold Water

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Lightly grease a 20cms/8" flan ring or dish.
2. Make pastry: Sieve the flour and caster sugar together. Mix the egg yolk, water together. Place one third of the flour mixture in a bowl, add the margarine and the liquids. Cream with a fork until well blended. Add the remaining flour and sugar mixture and mix to a firm dough. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
3. Roll out pastry on a little flour and use to line the flan ring or dish. Prick the base well with a fork, then, cover with well crumpled tin foil. This prevents the pastry rising during baking! Bake in pre heated oven for 20 minutes until set, remove the tinfoil for the last 5 minutes baking. Remove from oven. Reduce oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2.

Filling

50g / 2oz  Cornflour 
125g / 4oz Caster Sugar 
300ml / 1/2pt Water 
Rind & Juice of 2 Lemons 
2 Egg Yolks

 make the filling:

1.  Place the cornflour and sugar in a saucepan, gradually whisk in the water.
2.  Add the lemon rind and bring to the boil stirring until thick and transparent.
3.  Remove from heat and stir in the strained lemon juice. 
4. Beat in the egg yolks and pour into the flan case.

Meringue

3 Egg Whites 
141g / 5oz Caster Sugar

1 teaspoon of Vanilla essence 

Make the meringue:

1. Beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until stiff.
2.  Beat in the sugar slowly by adding a tablespoon at a time.......whip for about 3 minutes then add another tablespoon and so on until the sugar is gone and until glossy. Another tip to make sure the get the most out of this Meringue is at the end check the meringue is right by taking a bit between your fingers and rubbing it if its smooth its done if its grainy you need to whip a bit further .
3.  Spoon meringue over filling, sprinkle with a little sugar and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

There you go everyone.......Now you might not get it perfect the first time as the filling and meringue can be complicated but dont give up on the first second or even third time trust me its all worth it in the end......This Pie is delicious and who said making a master piece was going to be easy eh? 

If you do try this please let me know how you get on id love to hear from you 

Thanks everyone 

if you would like to see more recipes let me know......I am no chef but when you have 5 kiddies its fun cheaper and tastes nicer having Homecooked/baked food in your home.........I love seeing my kids faces and seeing them sniffing the air when they come in from school i want them to remember that to remember walking in the door and smelling homecooked/baked food......Get your kiddies involved when they are bored its messy but the fun and time you have with them is priceless forget the mess enjoy your kids while they are kids..........

Until next time 

take care and happy baking :) 

Love 

Nina Carry