Lemon Meringue Pie

Dear Diary,

I have recently decided to go round to my grandmas and bake with her, she has so many tricks that I felt I was just being silly by not learning them. I ended up having to make little notes of things she was saying just so I could try and remember them all!

We decided to start with 2 things that I had never made, pastry and meringue, and came up with lemon meringue pie all from scratch. To do that we started with a short crust pastry, something I thought was much harder that it turned out to be.

I learnt such tricks such as lifting the edges of the pastry into the corners so it didn’t get holes in it, using a rolling pin and rolling it over the top so the excess came off, and only rolling the pastry one way so you weren’t dragging it back towards you. I think it helped that we had a silicon mat to roll on which meant we could lift it onto the rolling pin easily.

Here is the recipe for the short crust pastry I used:

                                            8 inch flan case

                                            400g plain flour

                                            200g of fat (I used half lard and half butter)

                                            A pinch of salt

                                            1 egg yolk

                                            Cold water

1.  Mix the fat and the flour together until it looks like breadcrumbs.

2. Add a tablespoon of water to the beaten egg and slowly add to the mixture.

3. Keep adding water a table spoon at a time until it binds together.

4. Gather it all together and wrap in plastic and then chill it in the fridge for 30min. (It can be made the night before and chilled over night if necessary)

5. Preheat the oven to 200^oC.

6. Roll it out so it is larger than the case pick it up with the rolling pin and place on top of the pastry tin.

7. Lift up the edges of the pastry and carefully push it into the corners, then prick with a fork to let our air. Lay a baking sheet on top and place the baking beans ontop.

8. Bake for 15 minutes until the crust looks browned.

The lemon part of the pie:

                                      Grate rind + juice of 2 lemons

                                      25g Cornflour

                                      300ml Water

                                      25g Butter

                                      75g Caster sugar

                                      2 egg yolks (keep the whites for the meringue later)

1.  Put the lemon rind and juice and cornflour in a saucepan and mix them to form a paste (this is important even more if you are using normal flour for something as it will go lumpy if you don’t)

2. Add water and bring it to the boil.

3. Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.

4. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

5. Stir the eggs in, and spoon into the pastry tin. 

The meringue:

                                         2 egg whites

                                         100g of caster sugar

1.  Whisk the eggs starting at a low speed and gradually getting faster until it is stiff but not dry and can be tipped upside-down without moving.

2. Whisk (or spoon) in the sugar.

3. Pipe or spoon out the mixture on top of the lemon forming peaks.

4. Bake for 15 minutes at 180^oC.

For my first time I thought it went rather well and I enjoyed doing everything from scratch :) I need to work out how to stop the lemon section leaking liquid once it was cut into, and I want to try and make the meringue whiter as well on the outside once it is cooked, maybe adding a few drops of blue food colouring before it is baked.

Love Lousia xxx