Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe Review

Lemon meringue pie is one of my favourite desserts and always reminds me of Sundays spent at my parents’ house having a roast with pudding after. My mum always used to make different puddings every week; I loved her cherry pie and treacle tart too!

Inspired by Abbey who recently tweeted about making a lemon meringue pie, I thought it was high time I’d make one myself! I was tempted to buy some lemon curd, but in the end, I found a really easy recipe to follow so I could make my own. That being said, I totally “cheated” and bought some shortcrust pastry. (Thanks Aunt Bessie, you’re the best!) As usual, anything written next to the instructions in italics, are my own thoughts or alterations!

The recipe I found was on Allrecipes and was written by a lady called Emilie. I highly recommend checking out her original post here.

Ingredients:

Lemon Curd:

  • 200g caster sugar
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour
  • 3 tablespoons cornflour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 350ml water
  • 2 lemons, juiced and zested (I used one lemon so I could use up some of the lemon juice I had in the fridge)
  • 30g butter
  • 4 egg yolks, beaten

Meringues:

  • 4 egg whites
  • 75g caster sugar

Pastry:

  • 1 (23cm) shortcrust pastry case, already baked (I bought a 500g bag of Aunt Bessie’s shortcrust pastry instead as all you have to do is add 8 tablespoons of water, mix it together and it’s ready. If you want to make your own pastry, I recommend this recipe as I’ve used it a few times before. I use the sweet version.)

Method:

  • To make the pastry: If you’re making your own pastry or using a packet mix (and not using a ready-made pastry case), you’ll need to blind bake the pastry first. Make your pastry, roll it out and lay it over the pie dish you’re using. Make sure the pastry goes over the sides of the dish and do NOT cut it off! Press the pastry down so you’re lining the dish with it and poke some holes in the bottom with a fork. Cut a piece of baking paper and place over the pastry, add your baking beans and pop in the oven for 15 mins at 200°C or 180°C for fan.

  • Take out your pastry and remove the paper and beans, bake for a further 5 mins. Once the pastry has come out this time, you can carefully cut away the excess with a knife.
  • To make the lemon filling: In a saucepan, whisk together the 200g caster sugar, flour, cornflour and salt. Stir in the water, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to the boil. Stir in the butter. Place the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually whisk in 100ml of the hot sugar mixture. Then, whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to the boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour the filling into your pastry case.

  • To make the meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip the egg whites until foamy.

  • Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

  • Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges.

  • Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown. For best results, cool to room temperature and then chill in the fridge before serving. (The comments on the original post seem to indicate that 10 mins isn’t nearly enough, so I did 15-20 which seemed to work better for me!)

And it was all going so well… Except that right when I had to decide whether to leave the pie in the oven for a few more minutes or take it out, the doorbell went. So I took it out of the oven and when I came back to it, I thought the meringue might need a few minutes longer. So I turned the oven back on. To the fan and grill setting. FML. Less than 60 seconds later, a delightful burning smell wafted from the oven and I took out my lemon meringue pie, which looked a “little” darker than I’d intended it to be!! Needless to say though, it still tasted amazing and I still wanted to show you, because sometimes, things just go tits up!!

  • Time: 10 mins to make the pastry, roll it out etc (20 mins to blind bake). 10-15 mins prep/cooking time for the filling and meringues. 15-20 mins baking time.
  • Difficulty rating: It was really easy to make, there just seem to be a lot of steps, but if you work your way through methodically, there shouldn’t be any issues 🙂
  • Taste: Apart from the burnt bits, it tasted absolutely amazing and definitely better than a packet mix or ready made lemon meringue pie
  • Would I make it again?: Hell yes, this is now my second one! J seems to love it too, which is great, because I get to share it. Neat.
  • Verdict: 4/5.

Have you made lemon meringue pie before? Have you made something that was going well, then you did something to mess it up? Let me know in the comments below 🙂 x

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10 Comments

  1. I love that you have those memories of your mum’s cooking and baking, those roasts sound so cosy! I also love her sassy comments hahaha x

  2. Holly that pie looks so delicious, my tea is in the oven as I write and I’m starving so your meringue pie looks even more tempting! It’s one of my favourites too. Shame you singed the top, the door bell will always ring right when you don’t want it to! Still looks yummy! x x

  3. I love all things lemon, especially curd! But 9 times out of 10 I just end up eating it from the jar instead of using it in a recipe. Oops.

  4. Your awesome Mum only did a proper DIY one twice! But I always make my own pastry – always!

  5. Congrats on baking such a scrumptious looking pie, Holly! A little bit of brown on top never hurt anybody, your meringue rose beautifully! I’m definitely going to be baking another lemon meringue pie soon, I’m so glad that I inspired you!

    Abbey 😘 http://www.abbeylouisarose.co.uk

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