Lemon meringue pie, sweet, delicious and worth the trouble!
Ah sweet and delicious lemon meringue pie. I love it so intensely that I always order it anywhere if it is on the menu. Now of course sadly enough I’ve had my share of bad pies but this is easy to make (despite the trouble in the title) and so good!

Lemon meringue pie
What is it that makes a lemon meringue pie such a classic? Is it the combination of that sweet, sour filling or the fluffy meringue on top? Whatever the case, I can never get enough of this delicious pie. I had not made it myself at home but this time I figured I should give it a go. For the filling I used a combination of lemon and lime, but of course you can pick either one of the two. It is called lemon meringue so technically it should be lemon but I like the combination in this case.
Making the dough
Of course the first step to making the lemon meringue is to make the dough. It is an essential part of a good pie. You want the crust to be strong enough to be able to support the heavy filling but also crunchy and delicious. The key part here is to use ingredients that are really cold. So when you add the butter to the flour make sure you use really really cold butter. Also don’t over mix it in the machine. While doing so it will warm up and that is not what you want.
Also when mixing by hand, if you have warm hands that could have an impact on the end result. So minimal touching and cold ingredients. That’s key.
And of course chilling it in the fridge before you roll it out and use it in the baking tin.
Blind baking
Once you’ve rolled out the dough and lined your baking tin with it, it is time to blind bake the crust. For that I preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) and line the dough with a piece of baking paper. This works best if you crumble the paper first and then uncrumble it. Place it on the dough and use weights to place on the paper. For weights you can use dried legumes of any kind, dried rice or special baking beans. The result is the same.
I first bake the pie with the weights for about 20 minutes. I take it out of the oven and remove the weights with the paper. I place it back in the oven and bake until the crust is cooked and golden brown.

The meringue
Now comes the meringue part. For that you have to make sure you have whipped the egg whites to firm peaks. For disclosure; if you look at the photos you can see that my meringue here was not as high as I wanted it to be. I hadn’t whipped the meringues enough, but the taste was still the same. But yeah that should have been higher!
Now to burn the meringue you can either place it back into the oven and bake it for about 5 minutes or so until browned or you can use a brulee torch to do that. I actually prefer the latter as it gives you much more control over the end result. But if you don’t have a torch you can use the oven.
Make sure to have everything cooled off before cutting the cake. Especially if you’ve placed the curd and the meringue in the oven as that will have made the filling somewhat soft. Still delicious but it might run away.. 🙂
Lemon and lime meringue pie
Equipment
- Round baking tin of around 22 cm
Ingredients
Crust
- 225 gr all purpose flour
- 160 gr butter
- 80 gr sugar
- 1/2 egg
- pinch of salt
- filling for blind baking beans, rice or baking beans
Lemon and lime filling
- 1 lemon
- 2 limes
- 50 gr cornflour
- 100 gr sugar
- 250 ml water
- 50 gr butter
- 3 egg yolks don’t throw away the egg whites
Meringue
- 3 eggwhites
- 100 gr sugar
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients quickly in the foodprocessor and bring together into a ball. Wrap in plastic and leave in the fridge for at least half an hour.
- Grate the lemon and the limes and juice them. Heat the cornflour, sugar with the juice and water on low heat in a small saucepan. If you've whisked out the lumps (with a wooden spoon) turn the heat up. The lemon filling should bind a bit and become translucent. Remove from the heat. Add the butter and let it melt into the sauce. Add the grated lemon zest. Whisk the three egg yolks and add to the sauce, stir well.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C. Roll the dough and line the baking tin with it. Crumble a piece of baking paper and place that on the dough. Add the dried beans or the baking beans on top to weigh it down. Blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove the baking paper and continue to bake for about ten more minutes until the pastry is golden brown but not too dark.
- Let the bottom and the filling cool completely. Divide the filling over the bottom. Whisk the eggwhites and while whisking add the sugar bit by bit. The eggwhites should be shiny and sticky and if you make little peaks with the mixer it should stay up for a bit.
- Preheat the oven to 180˚ C. Scoop the egg whites on top of the cake and make little peaks and swirls with a fork. Put into the oven and leave to brown for about 5 to ten minutes. Leave the cake to cool down for at least an hour before cutting.
Nutrition Information
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
That sounds like an interesting restaurant. It definitely makes things easier. Your pie looks so delicious! I need to start baking again :-/
That sounds like an interesting restaurant. It definitely makes things easier. Your pie looks so delicious! I need to start baking again :-/
lovely pie! I love the flavor of lemon and custard!
lovely pie! I love the flavor of lemon and custard!
Mmmhhh, that is one of my favorite pies! Yours looks mighty delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
Mmmhhh, that is one of my favorite pies! Yours looks mighty delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
That looks like a very delicious pie. It is already on my “to bake” list. Thanks.
Kirsten
That looks like a very delicious pie. It is already on my “to bake” list. Thanks.
Kirsten
What a gorgeous pie, a perfect meringue and decadent dessert! Lovely to catch you on FB, Simone 🙂
What a gorgeous pie, a perfect meringue and decadent dessert! Lovely to catch you on FB, Simone 🙂
Thanks Sanjeeta!
The restaurants sounds so different. but so good. I have an instant craving for this pie now. Love anything lemon and the color is so very beautiful. I am so scared to make a meringue.
The restaurants sounds so different. but so good. I have an instant craving for this pie now. Love anything lemon and the color is so very beautiful. I am so scared to make a meringue.
You shouldn’t be scared Soma! With your skills I am sure you would be fine doing a meringue and it’s not that hard really
When a restaurant relies on simple dishes it leaves more of an impression….I like that they serve the meat in portions too! Great looking pie Simone!
O, your lemon meringue looks incredible. Delicious, great job with the photographs and styling…
Thanks! 🙂
Thanks Peter. I thought it was a fun concept and different from the norm. By the way the restaurant was totally packed it seems to work too. They do not take reservations either!
We love lemon pie and it’s been a while since I’ve made one. Now I am inspired to try this recipe.
We love lemon pie and it’s been a while since I’ve made one. Now I am inspired to try this recipe.
Wow, what a lovely pie! This is one of my favorite spring and summer desserts – light and airy, but decadent and delicious. Thanks for sharing. You have a beautiful blog and I’m looking forward to exploring your recipes. 🙂
WOW! Those pictures are amazing. I made a lemon pie a few days ago, but I bet it didn’t taste as amazing as that one. And wow a salad then some Halabut THEN some Meringue pie! I’m ready!
-Thanks
We have a similar restaurant here in Montreal, except they only have one main course: beef entrecôte, with fries on the side. There’s an optional soup and salad to begin with, and the only dessert is profiteroles. No surprises, but it’s always good, and at least there are never any regrets or difficult decisions!
Your pie looks beautiful, such a vibrant filling! Lemon meringue is one of my favourites!
You can buy that kind of pastry there? Not here… but, it is so easy to make anyway – and that tart looks incredible. Love the high meringue. YUM!
The menu sounds supreme in it’s simplicity. When you get that right, you have a life time business!
🙂
Valerie – still catching up
You’re right that it is so easy to make yourself and truth be told, it’s probably better tasting too… 🙂 I do prefer homemade!
I can’t see the recipe. 🙁
Sorry Michelle. I forgot to add a code but its there now!