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Lemon Meringue Pie slice on a plate.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: homemade pie recipe, Lemon pie
Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Crust: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Servings: 1 9" Pie
Calories: 362kcal
Author: Sandy

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 ¼ cups All-Purpose Flour
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ½ cup Unsalted Butter, very cold, cut into cubes
  • 4-6 Tablespoons Ice Cold Water

Filling

  • ½ cup Fresh Lemon Juice (3-4 lemons)
  • 2 teaspoons Lemon Zest
  • 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
  • 4 Egg Yolks
  • cup plus 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
  • 1 ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 ½ cups Cold Water

Meringue

  • 4 teaspoons Cornstarch
  • ½ cup Granulated Sugar
  • ½ cup Water
  • 4 Egg Whites

Instructions

Meringue - Part 1

  • In a small sauce pan, mix together meringue sugar and cornstarch. Add water and place onto stove on medium heat. Whisking constantly, bring mixture to a boil. Mix for one more minute until thick. Set aside to cool completely.

Prepare Crust Dough

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Add flour and salt to a food processor. Add half of the butter and pulse a few times to break it up. Add the other half of butter and pulse another few times until mixture is coarse.
  • Add 3 tablespoons of the ice water and pulse another few times. Add as much water as needed, a tablespoon at a time, until dough stays together when pressed between your fingers. It will still be crumbly. You don’t want it formed into a ball.
  • Pour crumb mixture out onto a clean surface. Form into a ball and gently knead 2-3 times (you don’t want to overwork the dough). Press down to form a disk. Wrap in Saran Wrap and place in refrigerator 15-30 minutes.

Form the Crust

  • Remove dough from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough gently, from center out, until you have a circle large enough to fit in the pie dish with some hanging over the edge. Fold in half or into fourths and place into pie dish.
  • There are a number of ways you can form the edge of the crust. Cutting off excess and pressing edges with a fork is the easiest. You can also flute by folding edges over, forming a short wall of dough all the way around, and then pressing with finger and thumb all the way around (youtube has a lot of great tutorial videos for all sorts of different ways to prepare pie edges).

Bake the Crust

  • Place foil or parchment paper on bottom of pie shell. Add pie weights or beans and bake 20-25 minutes until edges are golden and bottom is no longer translucent.

Prepare the Filling

  • While baking pie crust, prepare filling. In a medium sauce pan, mix together filling sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in water. Bring to a light boil on medium heat. Immediately remove from heat. Add half of the mixture to the egg yolks by adding a very small amount at a time and whisking constantly (this will prevent eggs from cooking). Add egg mixture back to sauce pan. Bring back to a boil and stir for 2 minutes, until very thick. (Important to stir for two minutes. If you don’t, the filling will be too thin and won’t hold).
  • Once filling is very thick, remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter. Place Saran Wrap to top of filling in order to prevent a film from forming. Set aside until ready to use.

Meringue - Part 2

  • Make meringue by beating egg whites until soft peaks form. While continuing to beat, slowly pour in cooled mixture from Step 1. Beat until stiff peaks are formed.

Bake Pie

  • Pour filling into baked pie shell. Immediately spoon meringue onto hot filling. Gently spread, being sure to seal the meringue to the crust edges.
  • Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, until meringue is browned on the top. Place on cooling rack and let cool completely before serving.

Notes

  • It is important for the filling to be hot when adding the meringue. They will not stick together if it has cooled.
  • Store covered in refrigerator.
  • Pie is best served day of, or following day. Filling and meringue will loosen the longer it is refrigerated.
  • It is important not to overwork the pie dough. It will cause too much gluten formation and the crust will be tough, rather than flaky.
  • If you don’t have a food processor you can use a pastry blender or a fork.

Nutrition

Calories: 362kcal