Recipe for Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie
This Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe has the creamy lemon filling and airy meringue topping you know and love. But a secret ingredient - cardamom - adds an exotic touch that sets it apart from other recipes.
Ingredients
For the Pie Crust:
- 1 refrigerated pie crust
For the Lemon Filling:
- 3 large egg yolks reserve whites for meringue
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 ½ cups water
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice from about 2 large lemons
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Meringue:
- 3 large egg whites at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom optional
Instructions
Make the Crust:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Press crust into standard depth 9-inch pie plate; fold excess crust under and press together to form thick crust edge. Crimp edge with fingers or flute with fork.
- Use fork to gently prick holes across the bottom of the pie crust (this is known as docking). Place large piece of parchment paper over crust, then fill crust completely with pie weights or dry beans.
- Transfer crust to oven and bake 12 minutes. Remove from oven and remove pie weights and parchment paper. Return to oven and bake 5 to 8 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely before filling.
Make the Lemon Filling:
- In medium bowl, beat egg yolks until smooth.
- In medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, then gradually whisk in water. Heat to boiling over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil 1 minute or until mixture is very thick, whisking constantly.
- Whisk half of hot cornstarch mixture into egg yolks, then whisk that mixture back into remaining cornstarch mixture. Heat to boiling over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil 2 minutes, whisking constantly, then remove from heat.
- Stir in lemon juice, butter, lemon zest and salt. Pour into prepared pie crust. Set aside while you make the meringue.
Make the Meringue:
- In bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until foamy. With mixer running, add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until all sugar is incorporated. Continue beating until egg whites are stiff and glossy. Beat in vanilla, and cardamom if using.
- Spread meringue over lemon filling. Use kitchen torch to lightly torch meringue (see Notes below if you do not have a torch). Pie is best served the day it is made; store any leftover pie in refrigerator.
Notes
- If you don't have a kitchen torch, pie can be baked to toast meringue. In this case, you'll want to prepare the meringue first, and then the filling second.
- The reason for this is that the heat from the piping hot filling will rise and begin to cook the meringue as soon as you spread it onto the filling. If you spread the meringue on cooled filling and then try to bake it, the filling will create steam as it heats up, causing your pie to weep prematurely and become soggy, and separate the meringue from the filling layer.
- So, spread meringue onto piping hot filling, being careful to spread meringue all the way to the crust to seal filling to prevent shrinking or weeping.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown, tenting loosely with foil if the meringue or crust browns too quickly.
Calories: 344kcal, Carbohydrates: 57g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 84mg, Sodium: 187mg, Potassium: 83mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 41g, Vitamin A: 230IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 19mg, Iron: 1mg
This website provides estimated nutrition information as a courtesy only. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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