This Simple Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe Is An Absolute Keeper

This is a proper, old-fashioned lemon meringue pie perfect for bringing to summer BBQs or just treating whoever's at home on a rainy day..

It uses a brilliantly sweet pastry which gives it an extra crunch, beautiful Swiss meringue and of course, a super tangy lemon curd. You can make this in just a couple of hours.

If you have time on your side and you’re feeling ambitious, you can make your pastry from scratch using this recipe. If not, you can just use a 500g pack of Jus Roll shortcrust pastry.

Instructions

Step 1

Start by preheating your oven to 180°C and get all of your ingredients together.

Step 2

Roll out your pastry, place it into a 20cm tart case, trim the edges and prick all over with a fork.

Step 3

Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans. If you don’t have baking beans, you can use uncooked rice instead.

Step 4

Bake for 10 minutes, remove the baking beans (or rice) and baking paper and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Step 5

Now for the lemon curd. Put the lemon juice and lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Step 6

In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs and sugar together until they're light in colour.

Step 7

Add the lemon juice to the eggs and whisk again.

Step 8

Put the mixture back in the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Step 9

Pass the lemon mixture through a sieve into a bowl.

Step 10

Mix in the butter.

Step 11

Pour the curd into the baked pastry shell.

Step 12

Now for the meringue, put the egg whites and sugar in a bowl and whisk until they hold a stiff peak.

Step 13

Turn up the oven to 200°C and spoon the meringue onto the lemon curd.

Step 14

Use a clean finger or a spatula to make peaks all over the top and dust with icing sugar.

Step 15

Bake for 5-10 minutes until the tops of the meringue start to brown and caramelise et voila!

And there you have it - a dessert that will knock the socks off any guest!

If you liked this recipe, you can check out more of Brendan's recipes on his blog Nothing To Eclair, like his Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.