This summer dessert is a twist on the classic lemon meringue pie that we all know and love. These days I use a tin of condensed milk for the basis of the filling and this gives a great result. In my blog archive I have a recipe for sweet orange pastry and I use this for the pastry case to give an extra citrus kick, but you could of course use ordinary shortcrust pastry, either home made or shop bought.
You will need enough pastry to line a 18-19cm (8″-9″) shallow tin or ovenproof flan dish
Ingredients for the filling:
1 tin of condensed milk, full fat version
3 large free range egg yolks
the zest and juice of 2 limes
the zest and juice of 1 lemon
Ingredients for the topping:
3 large free range egg whites
175g of caster sugar
Method:
The pastry case:
- preheat the oven to 180°C
- roll out the pastry and use it to line the baking tin. Use a fork to lightly prick the base of the pastry case
- line this raw pastry case with baking parchment and fill it with ceramic baking beans (uncooked rice will serve the same purpose if you don’t have any baking beans)
- blind bake the case until it is ¾ cooked (approx. 20 minutes – it should be a light golden brown colour), then remove the parchment and beans and cook the case for another 5 minutes
- remove the case from the oven and put it to one side to cool a little
The filling:
- pour the condensed milk into a large bowl
- add the juice and zest of the limes and lemons to the condensed milk
- separate the eggs, taking great care not to let any of the egg yolk get into the egg white (any grease whatsoever will prevent egg whites whipping to a meringue consistency, therefore the bowl you whip the egg whites in will also need to be completely grease-free)
- put the egg whites to one side – these are for the meringue topping
- add the egg yolks to the condensed milk and fruit juice and beat these ingredients together so that they are well blended
- pour the mixture into the precooked pastry case
The topping:
- using a hand beater or food mixer, beat the egg whites until they are of a stiff consistency
- whilst still beating, gradually add the caster sugar a teaspoon at a time
- gently spoon the meringue onto the pie filling and spread it to the edges
- bake the pie for 15 minutes, or until the meringue is pale golden brown
- leave the pie to cool for at least an hour before cutting it (this allows the filling to set a little)
Cakes, Bakes and Simple Suppers 