Pineapple Meringue Pie

This pie is a refreshing variation on the more well known lemon meringue pie and is made in the traditional way, using egg yolks and cornflour to thicken the filling before topping it with meringue.

You will need:

a flan tin, approximately 16cm/6″ in diameter

enough shortcrust pastry to line the flan tin (I used some of my Sweet Orange Pastry – see recipe in blog archive under “pastry”)

For the filling:

I tin of pineapple chunks or slices in natural fruit juice (fruit in syrup is not suitable for this recipe)

the rind and juice of a lemon

80g of caster sugar

the yolks of 2 free range eggs

3 level tablespoons of cornflour

For the topping:

the whites of 2 free range eggs

50g of caster sugar

Method:

• preheat the oven to 180°C
• line the flan tin with the shortcrust pastry
• put baking parchment over the pastry, fill the case with ceramic baking beans and blind bake the case for 15 minutes

• remove the baking parchment and paper from the pastry case and then return it to the oven for a further 5 minutes
• put 2 or 3 pineapple rings from the tin onto a sheet of kitchen paper to drain
• pour the juice from the tin of pineapples into a measuring jug
• add the rind and juice of the lemon to the pineapple juice, then add enough cold water to make it up to 300mls (if by any chance you have a carton of pineapple juice, use this instead of water as it will give an improved flavour)

• use a tablespoon or two of this liquid to mix with the cornflour until the powder and liquid are blended (this is known as “slaking”)
• put the pineapple/lemon juice and the slaked cornflour into a pan, together with the egg yolks and sugar
• mix everything together with either a wooden spoon or balloon whisk, then gradually bring this mixture to the boil, stirring all the time

• when the mixture begins to boil, let it simmer for a minute until it starts to thicken, then add two or three tablespoons of chopped pineapple to the mixture
• set the pie filling to one side whilst you prepare the meringue topping
• lower the oven temperature to 150°C
• using an electric beater if possible, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks
• gradually add the caster sugar to the egg whites, whisking well between each addition
• pour the fruity pie filling into the flan case and then pile the meringue on to the top of this, making sure that the meringue reaches right to the edges of the pastry

• place the pie into the oven for the meringue to cook and dry out – usually this will take about 45 minutes
• leave the pie on a wire rack to cool completely before serving