Lemon meringue pie...

I was always quite apprehensive to make this humble wee pie. Its main component, lemon curd.. always managed to turn good intentions into a baking fiasco... knocking my confidence with its ever so stubborn, runny consistency.
Last week, we had a few friends around for dinner, and  
eager to conquer this dessert classic, I settled on making a Lemon Meringue Pie.

I began with the sweet short pastry...

225g flour
125g butter (chilled and cubed)
Pinch salt
25g icing sugar (or castor)
1 egg yolk
Cold water to mix

Combine flour and sugar with a whisk. Work in the butter using your finger tips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add yolk and the cold water a tablespoon at a time, mixing to a stiff dough. You shouldn't need more than 3 tablespoons. Shape dough into a flat disc and leave in refrigerator for at least half an hour.

I set my oven to 200 C and with a great deal of optimism and clear instructions, I set to work on the filling...

2 tbsp cornflour
100g castor sugar
zest of 2 lemons
125ml lemon juice
200ml water
85g butter
3 yolks & 1 whole egg (beaten)

*Make sure to keep the whites for later!

Once ovens at 200 C, roll out and blind bake pastry for 10 - 12 minutes, remove blind baking material and put back in for a further 5 - 7 minutes.

Combine flour, sugar and zest in saucepan with a whisk. Add the water and juice to pan and simmer on medium heat. Once thick and smooth, add your butter and beaten eggs. Stir vigorously until thick, smooth, glossy and so on!

Keep curd in saucepan until your meringue is good to go. Set oven to 180 C...

4 egg whites (room temperature)
100g castor sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
dash of vinegar or lemon juice

Beat whites until stiff peaks form when beaters are lifted out of bowl.
Add half the sugar, a tablespoon at a time. Beat just enough to dissolve the sugar.
Add the cornflour, rest of the sugar and vinegar or lemon juice. Once glossy and thick enough to hold shape, stop beating or your meringue could go beyond the point of repair!

Put your curd back on the heat, give it a quick whisk and pour into the pastry case. Now you can pipe or simply plop your meringue atop and finish with some fancy looking flicks and swirls.

In the oven at 180 C for 18-20 minutes... take out when the meringue looks like the impressive pictures we've all seen before... back when we thought "why does mine never look like that".

I conquered the lemon meringue pie. But as it was served up and eaten in its entirety in one evening, there were no photos taken. All I have to show for it is this very realistic drawing...