Since it’s my birthday month I decided sharing my favorite birthday treat was appropriate. I’m not a big cake person- never have been and it didn’t get better as I got older and progressed in my pastry chef career. So I’ve always requested a lemon meringue pie on my birthday.
Just as an FYI- In recent years I don’t really celebrate my birthday. Generally I’ll hit up an art gallery or museum with my beau and mother buys me a pie- that’s about it.
Reason? On April 19th 2020, we woke up to find out 22 Nova Scotians were murdered. Not really a happy day.
But I digress! Below is my absolute favorite Lemon Meringue Pie recipe from the “Cooking for Geeks” cookbook.
Step 1: Make a pie dough of your choosing. Revert back to the pie dough recipe I shared in February, find one on my blog here: https://www.creatingwithnicole.com/blog/perfect-pie-crust or message me for the one on page 225 of Cooking for Geeks (warning: I’ve never made it)
You will want to pre-bake the shell for this recipe. Follow the appropriate cooking times for your recipe.
Step 2: Make the filling
2 ½ cups of Sugar
¾ cup of Corn Starch
½ tsp Salt
3 cups of Water
6 egg Yolks (saving the egg whites for later)
1 cup of Lemon juice (about 4 lemons worth)
-Place the sugar, cornstarch and salt into a saucepan off heat. Add the water and whisk together. Place over medium heat once whisked.
-Stir until boiling and the cornstarch has set. Remove from heat.
-In a separate bowl, whisk together the 6 egg yolks. Slowly add about a quarter of the cornstarch mixture to the egg yolks while whisking continuously (we’re tempering everything so we don’t just cook the eggs).
-Transfer the entire egg mixture back into the saucepan and whisk in the lemon juice and zest.
-Transfer the filling to your pre-baked pie shell.
Step 3: Make the Meringue
1 cup of Sugar
½ cup of Water
6 egg whites
-Create a simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a saucepan over low/medium heat. Set aside once all the sugar is dissolved and you have a few simmer bubbles. Don’t overcook it- we’ll make candy another time.
-In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until you get stiff peaks and then slowly add the simple syrup while whisking continuously. You should have a beautiful shiny and stiff meringue once it’s completed.
-Cover the pie with the meringue (spoon it on or pipe it- dealer’s choice)
Step 4: Bake the pie at 375 degrees F/ 190 degrees C for 15 minutes until the meringue turns brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 4 hours at least before serving (Unless you want lemon pudding).
Serve and enjoy!