Lemon Meringue Pie

Saturday we woke up early and headed to south bank to have a browse through the lifeline book festival. I figured it would be nice and leisurely morning browsing through the tables of books, but nope, book enthusiasts are crazy. There were a whole lot of people that took it way too seriously, arguing, grabbing and there was one woman who so much wanted to be looking in the spot I was browsing that she purposely ran into me with her cart, twice! We didn't stay long due to the silliness, but I did manage to find a few cookbooks before we left.


The best thing to come out of the day was the idea to make lemon meringue pie, inspired by our morning tea at The Shingle Inn bakery. Boyfriend has been asking me to make lemon meringue pie for forever, but I’ve been a bit scared to try. I’m happy to report it was a win first time, the meringue was big and fluffy, which went perfectly with the tart lemon filling.



For the Pastry(from I Love Sugar)

200 grams plain flour
100 grams butter (cubed)
50 grams icing sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

To make the pastry- sift the flour into a large bowl, add the cubed butter and rub in with finger tips until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Mix in the sugar, zest, egg yolk and milk. Knead briefly to form a soft dough. Cover dough and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Lightly grease a 9 inch pie dish. Preheat oven to 180° c (350°f).

Place the chilled dough between two sheets of baking paper, roll the pastry into a round, about 5mm thick. Line the pie dish with the rolled pastry. Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beads or dried rice.


Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes, take out the baking weights and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before filling.

For the filling(from Homestyle Pies and Tarts)

30 grams plain flour
30 grams cornflour
230 grams caster sugar
185 mls lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
50 grams butter (chopped)
6 egg yolks
310 mls water

To make the filling- Add the flours, sugar. Lemon juice and lemon zest into a medium saucepan. Whisk ingredients over a medium heat, gradually add water and continue mixing until smooth. Continue stirring over heat for another 2 minutes or until mix has thickened.



Remove the pan from the heat, quickly whisk in the butter and egg yolks, seriously whisk like crazy. Return to low heat and continue stirring until the filling is very thick.


For the meringue-

4 egg whites
345 grams caster sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar

To make the meringue- Beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until foamy, add the cream of tartar and gradually the sugar. Continue beating the meringue for about 10 minutes, until thick and glossy.


To make the pie- Spread the lemon filling into the cooled pie crust.


Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, pile it up high in the centre. Using a knife form peaks in the meringue.


Bake for another 20 minutes at 200°c, until lightly browned.