Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe: Step-by-Step with Photos

Name: Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe: Step-by-Step with Photos
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 45 min
Total time: 3 h
Cuisine: French cuisine
Ingredients: Large, ripe lemons 2-3; Flour 1 cup; Butter 50 g; Margarine 100 g; Eggs 7; Powdered sugar 8-9 tbsp; Sugar 1.5-2 cups; Cornstarch 4 tbsp; Salt, vanillin to taste

Meringue (from the French meringue, and baiser, “kiss”) is, in principle, a French dessert made by baking egg whites beaten with sugar. Cornstarch is quite often added as a binder. And, of course, various flavorings go in too: vanilla, lemon, almond, coconut and so on.

Once upon a time, several decades ago, a cake was a must when you went to visit someone or to a birthday party. The selection, as it was called, included the “Kyiv” cake, the “Prague”, the “Kosmos”, the “Truffle”, the incomparable “Vetka” (the Branch) and the even more incomparable “Romashka” (the Daisy). The last one was a thick daisy, quite literally. Yes, yes! Lovely pieces of meringue laid out in the shape of a daisy, sprinkled with chocolate, some kind of cream and something else, I don't even remember what. But the whole point of the “Romashka” cake was the meringue.

Light and airy, very sweet, meringue is an exquisite treat. The word covers a huge variety of pastries and desserts. Even having a layer of meringue in a cake or pastry is enough to call it a meringue. A strawberry cake topped with meringue, for example, is called strawberry meringue, and lemon tartlets with a layer of meringue are lemon meringue.

The name “meringue” first appeared in the cookbook of François Massialot in 1692, although some believe the name comes from the Swiss town of Meiringen. Who is right, nobody knows. And it doesn't matter much.

What matters is that the meringue recipe is quite “stable” and is used all over the world for a wide range of desserts.

Today we are making a lemon cake with meringue, or “lemon meringue pie” as it is usually called. Despite how complicated it looks, the dessert is easy to make. Still, your arms will ache from the long whisking of the whites and from preparing the dough. But a delightful dessert is a great reason to ignore the fatigue. It is tasty and satisfying, no worse than classic tiramisu, though that one belongs among the unique masterpieces.

More with lemon

Kefir Muffins with Cherries and Orange ZestTender homemade muffins made with kefir, fresh or frozen cherries, orange zest and a pinch of ginger. Simple step-by-step recipe with photos, makes 12-15.

Lemon Sandwich Cookies with FillingHomemade lemon sandwich cookies with zest and a soft lemon icing filling. Simple ingredients, cookie cutters and a step-by-step recipe with photos.

Cottage Cheese Casserole with Semolina and Orange ZestBaked cottage cheese casserole with semolina, raisins, vanilla and orange zest: a tender, fragrant family recipe with step-by-step photos. Serve with sour cream.

Kefir Mannik with Orange ZestFluffy kefir mannik, a classic semolina cake with orange zest. Easy step-by-step recipe with photos, from simple ingredients, perfect for tea.

Vanilla Syrniki with Low-Fat Cottage Cheese and Orange ZestTender syrniki from low-fat cottage cheese with vanilla and orange zest: minimal flour, a crisp crust, fried in olive oil. Step-by-step recipe with photos.

Ingredients

8-10 servings

Large, ripe lemons 2-3
Flour 1 cup
Butter 50 g
Margarine 100 g
Eggs 7
Powdered sugar 8-9 tbsp
Sugar 1.5-2 cups
Cornstarch 4 tbsp
Salt, vanillin to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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The meringue pie we are making has three layers: a dough base, lemon curd and airy meringue. The three processes are independent of one another and can be done in parallel. For the dessert you will need a metal tin with a rim, preferably with a fluted edge, and a portable kitchen gas torch or, as an alternative, a well-heated electric grill in the oven.
And one more thing, which is very (!) important: since the egg white meringue is not heat-treated, the eggs must be perfectly fresh and from a completely reliable source. Eating raw eggs can, unfortunately, cause a lot of trouble later.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine 1 cup of flour, sifted beforehand, and 100 g of margarine. Take the margarine out of the fridge ahead of time so it comes to room temperature. Cut the margarine into thin slices or pinch it into pieces by hand before adding it to the flour.
Add 1 tsp of lemon zest, grated with a grater, to the flour and margarine. Add 1 egg and 3 tbsp of powdered sugar.
Fit the mixer with spiral dough hooks, which are handy for mixing stiff dough with no liquid added. Mix the flour with the margarine. The goal is that no loose flour is left in the dough, it should be “bound” by the fat. How even the dough is doesn't matter at this point.
Next, turn all the dough out onto a floured table and keep kneading by hand until completely smooth. Smoothness is very important, no lumps allowed. The dough is stiff and doesn't stick to your hands, somewhat like the dough used for a grated pie.
Roll the smooth dough into a ball, put it in a plastic bag and chill in the fridge for 30 mins. It must get cold.
The number of lemons is a matter of debate. Let's start with a simple fact: lemon meringue must have a distinct, strong lemon flavor. So you need at least two lemons, and preferably three. The lemons should be large and ripe, not still green and hellishly sour. If for some reason the lemon juice seems too sour, add more sugar. Or use less citrus and make up the volume with plain water.
Squeeze the juice from the lemons and strain it through a tea strainer. Grate all the zest from the leftover peels and set it aside. Dilute the juice with water, roughly one to one by volume.
Separate the yolks of 3 eggs from the whites, and put the whites in a separate cup in the fridge, you will need them for the meringue. Mix the three yolks with 4 tbsp of cornstarch and a pinch of vanilla. Stir, and add 0.5 cup of the lemon juice and water mixture. Stir once more.
Put the water and juice mixture in a small saucepan over the heat. To the still cold mixture, add 50 g of butter, the zest of 1 lemon and 1.5-2 cups of sugar. If the mixture seems too sour, add more sugar.
Pour the yolk and starch mixture into the still cold mixture. Stir very thoroughly with a wooden or plastic spoon (spatula). Since the mixture contains lemon acid, it's better not to use metal.
Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken. The starch swells and cooks in the hot liquid, as when making kissel. As soon as it begins to show signs of boiling, take the curd off the heat. The lemon curd is quite thick, like a very thick custard or even a bit thicker. It's best to rub it through a sieve to get it lump-free.
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out thinly with a rolling pin on a floured table. The rolled dough should be larger than the tin. Lay the dough over the tin, it will hang over the edges.
With your fingers, shape a layer of dough 5-7 mm thick in the tin, with a rim up the sides. The rim should be 2-3 times thicker than the layer on the bottom. If there are thin spots or unevenness in the dough, you can cover them with small pieces of dough, pressing them in with your fingers. You should end up with a large, shallow dough “basket”.
The dough is the base on which the lemon meringue will be built. Since the curd and meringue won't be baked afterwards, the dough base must be fully cooked. Put the tin with the dough in an oven heated to 200-210°C for 15-20 mins.
Spread all the curd on the baked, slightly cooled dough. Smooth it very carefully with a spatula, spreading it over the dough in a very even, uniform layer. Fill it up to the rim. The curd layer will be 1 cm thick or more. The sour taste of the lemon curd is balanced by the sweet meringue, and together they make an incredibly delicious dessert.
Take the three egg whites left over from making the curd out of the fridge and add 3 more whites. Eat the remaining yolks or throw them away.
Pour the egg whites into the mixer bowl and set it in ice or very cold water. Now comes the most laborious part of making meringue: whisking the egg whites. Whisk them for a long time and thoroughly, at medium speed.
When the whites look like foam, add a pinch of salt. Then add powdered sugar 1 tbsp at a time and keep whisking. The total amount of powdered sugar is 4-5 tbsp. The meringue should be sweet. You may want to make it even sweeter, so go ahead.
In the end you should get a very, very dense white mass of whites that you can barely stir with the mixer. It looks so much like whipped cream that the two are easy to mix up.
With a spatula, spread all the whipped whites over the lemon curd on the dough.
The meringue can be piled in a “dome” or an even layer. You can even make a “bowl” shape, as you like. It should lie “shaggy”, not smooth but rather ridged and faceted.
Now the final touch. Put the meringue under a very hot grill for a short time. Or, much better, scorch the surface with a kitchen torch, trying to darken only the ridges on the surface of the meringue.
The meringue pie is ready, though it's worth chilling it in the fridge. After torching, the surface of the meringue firms up slightly and darkens in places, and that is the special feature of this dessert.
Cut the dessert into pieces with a sharp knife, roughly as you would a pizza, in wedges. Put the pieces on plates and serve with tea or coffee. Although, in my opinion, it's better to simply enjoy the divine taste. Lemon meringue pie is simply incomparable!
This delicious dessert goes wonderfully with hot tea or fragrant coffee. It's very good with a latte or cocoa with milk. We always leave a small piece for the morning to have with our morning coffee.
A marvelous dessert: lemon meringue pie, or meringue if you prefer. All in all, it's not hard to make, though whisking the egg whites is a bit of a workout.