The Daring Bakers are back this month with another challenge- Lemon Meringue Pie! This month is being hosted by lovely Jen of The Canadian Baker and she challenged us to make either pie or tarts following this recipe.
Lemon Meringue Pie
Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie
For the Crust:
¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/3cup (80 mL) ice water
For the Filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
¼ cup (60 mL) butter
¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar
For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or counter-top) roll the disk to a thickness of â…› inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.
For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.
Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.
For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.
Daring Bakers Extra Challenge
Free-Style Lemon Tartlets
Prepare the recipe as above but complete the following steps:
To roll out tartlet dough, slice the dough into 6 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll each circle of dough into a 5 inch disk. Stack the disks, separated by pieces of plastic wrap, on a plate, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To bake the dough, position rack in oven to the center of oven and preheat to 350ºF (180ºC). Place the disks of dough, evenly spaced, on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely.
To finish tartlets, first place oven rack in the upper third of the oven and increase heat to 425ºF.
Divide the lemon filling equally among the disks, mounding it in the center and leaving a 1-inch border all the way around.
Spoon the meringue decoratively over each tartlet, right to the edges, in dramatic swirling peaks. Return tartlets to oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until the meringue is golden brown.
I always associate Lemon Meringue Pie with mid-20th century diners or classic movies such as The Women, where someone is pulling one out of the ice-box and serving up a hefty slice with a good strong cup of coffee.
My Gran always served her lemon pie with lemon flavored whipped cream and I must confess-I prefer it that way to a meringue topped version.
As for the recipe, it was easy and straight-forward. The only thing that gave me any pause was the method and amount of cornstarch in the lemon filling. It pretty much becomes glue before you add the final ingredients and it comes together in the end. I think the purpose is to preserve the freshness of the lemon juice in the flavor of the final product. My final verdict is a thumbs up. Rick (who doesn’t like lemon pie) ate a whole tart himself -which is an undisputed endorsement!
I hope you give this recipe a try and also check out the hundreds of other Daring Bakers and their creations posted today from all over the world. I made these yesterday after a batch of Red Beans and Rice (I’ll post that later) and we were dancing all over the kitchen chachacha!
Thanks Jen and thanks to all the other Daring Bakers who Meringue-ey and Cha-Cha!
Beautiful tarts! I love the golden meringue.
Thanks every one- I love baking with all of you DBs and seeing your creations!
Thanks to everyone else who stopped by too!
xoxo
Beautiful work. Very well done!
I love your title for this post. :0)
Your tartlets look ever so pretty and perfect! You did a great job here! Well done!
Cheers,
Rosa
Great-looking little LMPs! I like the “spikey” look. 🙂
Your tartlets are just lovely. I agree, LMP is the quintessential diner fare. I have enjoyed our non-American DB members reactions to the pie. I am glad to know the reason for the cornstarch because I thought this curd tasted much different than others I have had in the past – it was fresher. Your meringue is too cute. Wendy
I’ve been pondering what to do with my leftover lemon curd, because I also thought it was wonderful. I’m thinking about a patchwork cake, or integrating it into the King Cake I want to make this weekend…..
My husband loves it on oven pancakes.
Gabi I love your peaks!! So glad you enjoyed the pie. I really enjoyed all these parts together but then I like meringue.
Gabi, I have to agree with your Grandma – whipped cream would have been great with this instead of the meringue. Your tart looks like perfection! Gorgeous.
oooohhh! lemon flavored whipped cream?!?! You’re grandma sounds like one smart lady!
Your tarts look absolutely perfect. Great job!
I find your meringue looks simply awesome. Great job!
hey, thanks for the nice comment on my blog! you’re lemon meringue looks *awesome*.
and thanks for passing on your gran’s advice. every time i have made pie crust (not often) i have added more water to make it hold, but i guess that’s not the right thing to do. it’s OK to have it be crumbly. i just have to keep telling myself that. like a mantra.
exquisite! looks like yummy marshmallows that I want to sink my teeth in
beautiful pies
Yours look very very good… Ive now seen 11 different ones! Good for you!
B-
my daughter is taking ballroom dancing lessons at the moment, but they don’t learn the mer”i”ngue… she loved the pie though, and yours looks utterly delicious!
Your pie is gorgeous. They always serve the pie in the movies but in real life, a great lemon meringue pie is more scarce than hen’s teeth.
I think I would prefer the lemon whipped cream too…that sounds great.
Your pie looks lovely. Although I no longer eat dairy product, I think I’d prefer the lemon flavored whipped cream over the meringue as well. (Go Grandma!)
Jane of VeganBits.com
I swear–you are a meringue artiste! Those tarts are adorable!!!!
The meringue kisses are perfect and so is your crust!
PS Love the ladybugs
They’re gorgeous! And they were tasty huh!? Well done.
I don’t care what Len and Bruno think, I give your tarts a perfect ten! 🙂
What a pretty presentation! I loved the piped meringue topping, so even and so pretty!
Nice job! We clearly had the same look in mind when decorating!
Such pretty tarts! I’m so happy your hubby liked them – that’s fantastic! 🙂
Well done!
xoxo
Wow. The pies look beautiful! Glad the were so well recieved. x
I love your meringue decoration! It looks like they are doing the cha-cha!
Looks absolutely perfect! mmm lemon whip mmm
Looks great. I’m 100% with you on preferring whipped cream to meringue… Though I’m thinking maybe marshmallow fluff might be fun, too.
That is some BEAUTIFUL meringue! Nice job!
You did a fabulous job on your lemon meringue tartlets. I love your presentation with all of the piped mountains of toasted meringue. Your tart looks scrumptious.
I really like meringue, but I have to admit I bet the lemon flavored whipped cream would be an delightful topping for lemon meringue pie.
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
Your pie looks just fantastic! Great job! I like the way you piped the meringue on. So nicely done!
You made really lovely tarts. You must have piped the meringue. I should try that some time. I like you grandmothers recipe, and I think I should try that some time also.
What a great looking pie & how professional is that!! No wonder it was devoured with pleasure!! Wonderful post…love the way your blog goes, bugs & all! Veru aesthetic indeed.
:0) Cheers
Lemon flavored whipped cream sounds nice 😉 Good job here!
http://findingladolcevita.blogspot.com
Nice looking lemon meringue tarts! I like the way you did the meringue topping.
I love the sound of a lemon whipped cream, I’d like to give that a try next time!
Your tart looks beautiful! And I so love the movie The Women. Everytime I mention it everyone looks at me funny.
Beautiful meringue, even though I must say that I’m with you on preferring whipped cream!
You had done a great job….looks marvellous!
Your crust looks so very tailored even after baking! Wonderful! (Yes I did have a glue association like you)
You are my first Daring Bakers post to read today!
That’s a gorgeous tart, and I think you did the Bakers proud.
I prefer whipped cream over meringues, anyday. I still like meringue, though.
Your meringue looks wonderful! Great job!
Fancy! You Daring Bakers put me to shame. Your crust looks fabulous!
Exqusite.I love that movie The Women. They are doing a remake I see.Your granmothers version sounds wonderful.