Eight egg yolks set the filling in Hairy Bikers lemon meringue pie, which is double what most recipes ask for. So the Perfect Pies version serves eight at around 655 calories, and the whole thing takes about two hours.
A deep fluted tin matters here, because they wrote in Perfect Pies that this is “as close to heaven as a pudding gets.” And a second, smaller version sits in British Classics, so the two can be read against each other.
Two teaspoons of cornflour go into the meringue with the sugar, and that is the detail British Classics leaves out. Because cornflour holds the whipped whites together, the meringue sets without weeping syrup down onto the lemon beneath it.
Hairy Bikers Lemon Meringue Pie
Description
A deep 23cm pie built in three stages, since the pastry, the lemon and the meringue each need their own turn. And the filling has to go properly cold before the whites are whisked, so leave time for that.
Ingredients
For the Pastry:
For the Lemon Filling:
For the Meringue:
Instructions
- Make the pastry: Blitz the flour, sugar and butter to fine breadcrumbs in a food processor, then add the beaten egg with the motor running until it starts to come together. Shape it into a flattened ball, roll it out on a floured surface and line a 23cm loose-based tart tin about 4cm deep.
- Blind bake the case: Prick the base lightly, chill for 30 minutes, then bake blind at 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 for 25 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and give it 8 to 10 minutes more, until the pastry is lightly browned all over.
- Thicken the lemon: Mix the cornflour with a little of the cold water to a thin paste, then heat the rest of the water in a pan with the sugar, zest and juice until the sugar dissolves. Bring it to the boil, stir in the cornflour paste, then cook over a low heat for 3 minutes until thick and glossy.
- Enrich with the yolks: Take the pan off the heat and cool for 5 minutes, since dropping yolks into boiling lemon will scramble them. Whisk the yolks smooth, stir them through, then return the pan to a low heat for 3 minutes more, stirring constantly.
- Fill and cool: Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry case and leave it to cool completely, because any warmth left in the filling will steam the meringue from underneath. Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas 3½ while it cools.
- Whisk the meringue: Whisk the whites in a large clean bowl until stiff but not dry, then mix the sugar with the 2 tsp of cornflour. Whisk that in a tablespoon at a time until the meringue is thick and glossy, then whisk in the vanilla.
- Bake and cool: Pipe or spoon the meringue over the cold filling, sprinkle with the teaspoon of sugar and put it in the centre of the oven. Turn the heat down to 150°C/Fan 130°C/Gas 2 straight away and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until set and only just starting to colour.
FAQs
How do you make the meringue for lemon meringue pie?
Whisk five large whites until stiff but not dry, then add 250g of caster sugar mixed with two teaspoons of cornflour, a tablespoon at a time. Adding the sugar slowly is what gives you a thick, glossy meringue rather than a grainy one.
Si and Dave give a test for knowing when to stop: whisk until you can hold the bowl upside down without the whites sliding out. And do not go past that, because over-whisked whites cannot hold the sugar and it drops out later as syrup.
One thing the book does not mention is that the filling takes eight yolks while the meringue takes five whites, so you finish with three whites spare. And three whites is one short of their pavlova, which uses four whites with a tablespoon of cornflour in the same way.
How do you store lemon meringue pie, and does it need to go in the fridge?
This is a genuine trade-off rather than a simple answer. The filling is set with eight egg yolks so it belongs in the fridge, but cold air is what softens a baked meringue and starts it beading with moisture.
So keep it loosely covered in the fridge and eat it within two days, accepting the meringue will not be as crisp on day two. And if you are serving it the same day, a cool room is kinder to the topping than the fridge is.
To get ahead, bake the pastry case and make the lemon filling a day early and keep them separate, then whisk and bake the meringue on the day itself.
Can you freeze lemon meringue pie?
Not as a finished pie. Meringue is mostly air and water held in whisked egg white, so freezing collapses that structure and it thaws weeping and rubbery on top of the lemon.
The two lower layers freeze perfectly well though, so freeze the blind-baked pastry case and the cooled lemon filling separately for up to a month. And their banoffee pie splits the same way, since the base and toffee freeze while the cream and bananas go on fresh. But their treacle tart is the easy one here, because a syrup and crumb filling freezes whole without splitting.
Why is my lemon meringue pie runny?
If the filling is loose, the cornflour never got hot enough. It has to come properly to the boil before it thickens, then hold a low heat for 3 minutes, and a further 3 minutes after the yolks go in.
And their apple pie leans on cornflour too, tossed dry through the Bramleys so it catches the juice as they cook.
If the lemon is set but liquid pools between the layers, the meringue went onto warm filling. Steam rising off it condenses under the topping with nowhere to escape, so it runs back down and sits in the middle.
How does this compare to the British Classics version?
They wrote a smaller one for British Classics, and the numbers are all lower: a 20cm tin serving six, with 50g of cornflour to 350ml of water rather than 75g to 500ml here.
The filling is built differently too, thickened with three yolks and one whole egg instead of eight yolks, which gives a softer set. And the meringue there is just whites, sugar and vanilla, with no cornflour to hold it.
