So on a whim i decided to make lemon meringue pie. I had my mothers old recipe that she built herself because my dad was SUPER fussy about it. he LOVES lemon pie and it had to be right.
I also didn't want to make a big one as it was for a NYE party and i wanted bite size portions. So much less mess and no body need to touch the pie with covid hands... lol... I need 2 bites, my husband puts the whole pie in his mouth at once... lol
buy the mini crusts... sorry bakers... just so much less work. If making a big one.. meh.. make it if you want, but little ones... buy it. I got my from local aussie shops for $2.50 for 24 pie crusts. not bad value if you ask me. (Photo will be below). I made 50 of the pies and there was probably still enough mixture for another 10 or so. But if you have bigger pie crusts you will need it. My crusts needed a slightly full teaspoon of mixture.
CRUST - BUY it - need shortcrust pastry
BOWL ONE
5 large (600 - 700g) egg yolks
BOWL TWO
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of what aussies call cornflour ( the stuff you thicken a gravy or casserole with) I added perhaps a teaspoon more? just a shadow over the 1/3 cup.
pinch salt
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice (from a lemon not fake)
1 table spoon of the lemon zest, not too much of the white pith. you might need two lemons
LITTLE RAMEKIN
30g of butter to add as it comes off the heat
the whites of the eggs above (5 whites) NOT A DROP OF yolk in them folks
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup caster sugar
Turn on oven, and get your pie cases at the ready on a tray.
get everything ready to go as when the filling comes off the heat you want to assemble quickly so the filling is still warm into the cases when the meringue goes on.
wipe your bowls out with some white vinegar (that the egg whites crack into and whip in) these need to be clean from greases and soap
Crack 5 egg yolks into one bowl and put the whites in another bowl. Meringue whips best when they are room temperature.
Put the other (bowl two) ingredients into a sauce pan (water, sugar, cornflour, salt, lemon juice and zest.) whisk together over a medium heat. It starts cloudy and lumpy but thickens about 4-6 mins and looks more like a chunky syrup. This happens quickly so keep stirring and once it thickens take off the heat for a moment.
temper your egg yolks with the mixture. (google if you don't know this) basically you need to add the yolks to the boiling hot syrup without turning the eggs into scrambled eggs. To do this, whisk your yolks and add ONE table spoon of hot syrup and whisk, then another spoon... keep whisking... until you have added about 4- 5 spoons hot syrup. keep whisking and gently pour the egg yolks with little bit of sugar back into the pot of lemon sugar syrup. whisk whisk whisk.
Return to the heat and whisk until it bubbles like big volcanic splurts. only a could of mins. it should thicken down a bit.
remove from heat and add the butter and set aside while you make meringue
add only egg whites to mix master or bowl with electric beaters. start on low and after 30 seconds add cream of tartar slowly. increase to fast speed until soft peaks (google if you need)
warm the pie cases for 2 mins in the oven, and return the lemon mix to the heat for 30 seconds and mix to ensure warm and fluid. Its quite thick at this point. look at the photos to see it holding shape in the cases.
add a spoon of the lemon mix into the bottom, try not to over fill. you need the lemon just up to the top of the case.
add the meringue. its sticky and annoying BUT if you spread the meringue out to cover the top lip of the cases (don't dollop it in center attractively) then it will SEAL THE PIE. this is actually quite important and stops the meringue floating off the top of the pie.
put in over 160 degrees until the merigue is cooked. depending on your cases this could be anywhere between 10 - 25 mins. you might have to sacrifice one to check. The merignue should be a bit golden. too golden makes them very chewy. If they are going brown before they are cooked put tin foil over and reduce the heat.
leave on bench until cool then put in fridge
ENJOY
NOT like the photo below where you can see it dolloped on. I put a spoon on and then smoothed them all out with a knife
