A well-cooked crispy pastry makes all thedifference to a creamy lemon meringuepie. Baking it blind is a must. Gather upextra pastry to roll again or freeze for useat a later date.
Sweet short pastry
| 1 ½ cups | Plain flour |
| 2 Tbsp | Caster sugar |
| 75 g | Butter |
| 1 | Egg yolk |
| 2 Tbsp | Cold water |
Filling
| 1 cup | Water |
| 20 g | Butter |
| 1 cup | Caster sugar |
| ¼ cup | Lemon juice (Main) |
| ¼ cup | Cornflour |
| 3 | Egg yolks |
| 2 tsp | Grated lemon zest |
Meringue
| 4 | Egg whites |
| ¾ cup | Caster sugar |
| 1 Tbsp | Cornflour |
Directions
1. Preheat an oven to 180C.
2. For the pastry, place the flour, butter and sugar in a kitchen processor, blitzing until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the yolk and water mixing to form the dough. Roll on a lightly floured bench to half a centimetre thick. Cut circles to fit 8x10cm tart tins. Press to cover the base and sides, trimming any excess pastry. Line with baking paper and rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and bake for a further 5 minutes.
3. For the filling, combine the water, butter and sugar in a pot, heating slowly until the sugar has dissolved. Combine the cornflour with the lemon juice and 1 Tbsp water, then add to the sugar mix, bringing to a boil and stirring until it has thickened. Remove from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks and zest with a fork, stir through a little of the thickened sauce, then pour back into the pot and cook for a further 3 or 4 minutes. Remove and cool for 15 minutes. Pour evenly into the tart cases.
4. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar slowly, then the cornflour. Spoon on to the top of the lemon curd mixture. Place into the oven for 25 minutes until lightly browned.
5. Cool before serving or serve warm with a scoop of icecream.
