This recipe is a favourite! I love it because the lemon part is not too rich and creamy like some I have tasted – it is tangy and just right. I am not very good at pastry so I have used a Margaret Fulton’s Biscuit Pastry recipe for the base – it is easy to do and it does not matter if the pastry breaks whilst you are making the base – you can re-roll it or just piece it together and smooth it over! The remaining recipe comes from a cookbook I had as a child called “Home Recipes with Bero Flour – 39th Edition”. Bero was the main flour brand in the UK when I was growing up. The recipe book came as a promotion and I have many fond memories of baking cakes and cookies from this book!
Hints & Tips
- Veg
- Category: Baking - Desserts, Desserts, Vegetarian
Ingredients
Biscuit Pastry
- 125 grams Butter
- ½ Cup Caster Sugar
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 1 cup Plain Flour, Sifted
- 1 cup Self-Raising Flour, Sifted
Lemon Meringue Filling
- 6 Eggs, Separated
- 675 grams Caster Sugar
- Juice and Rind of 3 Lemons
- 450 milliliters Boiling Water
- 75 grams Corn Flour Blended with ¼ Cup Cold Water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy,
- Beat in egg then stir in sifted flours,
- Knead lightly, wrap in plastic wrap and chill about 20 minutes or until firm enough to roll.
- Grease and line the base of a 20 – 23cm deep glass pie dish.
- Position the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin, roll in all directions to create a large pastry circle, large enough to cover the base and sides of the pie dish.
- Peel off one sheet of paper, and carefully turn the pastry sheet onto the pie dish so it lines the base and sides. If the pastry breaks a little, re-attach, smooth it down so the base and sides are well lined.
- Bake blind using pastry weights on baking paper for 12 minutes. Check the pastry, carefully remove the baking paper and pastry weights and bake for a further 8 minutes.
- Remove and set aside to cool.
- Reduce oven temperature to 150 degrees Celsius.
- Place egg yolks, 300g sugar, lemon juice, rind and boiling water in a saucepan and mix well.
- Add blended corn flour to lemon mixture and mix well.
- Bring to boil and simmer gently until mixture thickens.
- Pour into baked pastry case.
- Whisk egg whites stiffly.
- Gradually beat in remaining sugar, a bit at a time, whisking well between each addition. Egg whites will take on a creamy texture and become a shiny white in colour.
- Spread the egg white mixture over the pie ensuring all edges are sealed with meringue.
- Bake for about 25 minutes until crisp and pale golden.
- Allow to cool and then cool in the fridge before serving.
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