Lemon Meringue Pie

I’ve made this pie twice and It is delish every time. I use the America’s Test Kitchen recipe which is AMAZING and much-loved in this house.

If you don’t own this one, it’s a good one to have around.

The key to this recipe is to get the custard really hot so that it helps cook the meringue layer.

The first step is to pre-cook your pie crust. The guys over at America’s Test Kitchen are probably not happy with me but I cheated and used a pre-made crust. I find these pre-made crusts to be flaky and yummy and waaaaay less work than homemade.

Once you get the crust in the pieplate, cover it with aluminum foil and bake for 20 min. Then remove foil and bake for 15 more min until nice and toasty brown.

Go ahead and let that cool while you make the custard filling. The guys over at America’s Test Kitchen spend a lot of time and money making awesome recipies so you’ll have to head over to their website to get the recipe. There is a 14 day free trial or you can buy access to the website, or just buy the book.

The recipe does call for 6 egg yolks in the custard and 4 egg whites in the meringue. For that many eggs, I used the handy dandy egg separator.

Now normally, I think egg separators are dumb but for 6 eggs, worth the extra dirty kitchen tool.

I also zested 2 lemons and squeezed half a cup of lemon juice. A good zester is another great investment. I love my pink one.

So 6 egg yolks, some water, some sugar, some corn starch, lemon zest and lemon juice get cooked on the stove.

Then we take them off the stove and lay plastic over the top so the custard doesn’t form a film.

Now we make our meringue. Whip up the egg whites, sugar, and cornstarch to a stiff peak.

Here’s a stiff peak:

This is a soft peak:

Note the difference. You want stiff peak.

Toss the custard back on the stove when you are at soft peak and leave the mixer going up to stiff peak while you re-heat the custard. When the meringue is done, quickly put the custard in the piecrust and top with the meringue. Use the back of a spoon to make the pretty swoops and toss it in the oven.

Cook until the tips of the swirls are a nice golden brown. I may have over-cooked mine just a tad but it was still yummy!

I hope you have the courage to try baking something challenging this weekend! It’s a fun adventure.

Sarah