LEMON MERENGUE PIE

This lemon meringue is great if you want to impress people. I admit, there are more exciting things than a lemon tart but with the meringue it takes it to a whole other level! You can make creative swirls so you’ll end up with a piece of art. :)

This is one of those recipes that I prepare when I know I have a bit of time on my hands. T here are three parts to this recipe; the pastry, the filling and the meringue.

Pastry

• 250 grams of sweet biscuits
• 100 grams unsalted butter

Steps:

• grease a cake tin of about 24 cm diameter
• mix the biscuits in a blender so you end up with crumbs
• melt butter and add it to the crumbs
• spread the mixture in the tin and push it down, you'll need to create a 2 cm border
• put this tin in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling

Filling

• 75 grams all purpose-flour
• 330 grams white granulated sugar
• 125 ml lemon juice
• 300 ml water
• 60 grams unsalted butter
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons of lemon zest

Steps:

• mix the flour with 1/3 of the sugar in a large bowl
• gradually poor in the juice and mix until you have a smooth mixture
• boil some water (a few centimeters) in a pan and put the bowl on top of the water, with the steam of the water you warm up your mixture.
• stirr gradually until the mixture cooks and becomes thicker, make sure that it has the consistency of a hollandaise sause
• take it off the pan and stirr in the butter, egg yolks and lemon zest
• keep stirring until the butter is completely incorporated
• let the mixture cool off for about 10 minutes

Meringue

• 4 large egg whites
• 130 grams white granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Steps:

• Wisk together your egg whites until foamy.
• Add the cream of tartar and beat until you have soft peaks.
• To add the sugar you’d best do it spoon by spoon as the whites might otherwise collapse.

Compiling the pie

• take the tin out of the fridge
• pour in the cooled down mixture
• spread over the meringue
• put it into a preheated oven of 200°C for about 5 minutes,

This type of cake is best served cold so let it cool off and then keep it in refrigerated. The hardest part for me is to wait until it gets cold. I did try it once and it is not recommended to eat it warm, it just doesn’t do it justice.