Grandma Mabel’s Lemon Meringue Pie
I mean, come on…… who doesn’t like a good Lemon Meringue Pie?
This recipe is one that my maternal grandmother made me when I was young, and I have loved all my life. It’s a simple recipe, but packed full of flavour. The recipe comes from my cherished handwritten recipe book of my mum’s – who this site is named in honour of – which is battered and torn but contains so many recipes I grew up eating and are part of my life. So much so, I have my own book these days too.
Written in “pre-decimal” days the quantities are all written in ounces and pints, which I particularly love, though I have added the metric equivalent below. The original descriptions are a bit like a Bake Off challenge in some areas … with instructions such as “make pastry”, but it goes to show how things have changed over recent years.
Quantities here fit a 9inch / 225mm deep fluted pie tin , so I have upped the pastry but works well. The quantities are the same just upped by 1 ½ times the original recipe but the basic premise is the same whether you are someone who likes a deeper base with more filling or huge amounts of meringue – just tweak the quantities in scale accordingly.
Ingredients
Pastry – basic shortcrust recipe
- 9oz Plain Flour (250g)
- 4½ oz Unsalted Butter (125g) – cold and cut into cubes
- Pinch of salt – seems strange with unsalted butter I know, but how it was made
- 1½ tbsp cold water
Fillings
- 1 Large Lemon – rind and juice – personally prefer with rind in but leave out by all means
- 3oz Caster Sugar (85g)
- ¼ pint of water
- 2-3 egg yolks
- 1oz Cornflour (30g)
Meringue Topping
- 2-3 egg whites
- 2oz Caster Sugar (55g)
- Pinch of salt
Method
Firstly you make the pastry ahead of baking. As the book says “make pastry”, as it was 2nd nature to Mabel….it’s like a well-known Baking Challenge from the telly! Anyway, here’s how I do it!
Sieve the flour into a large bowl, add the salt then rub in the butter cubes with your fingers until in resembles breadcrumbs, then add the water a little at a time and mix together with your hands until you have a smooth dough – try not to overwork. Then wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for approx. half an hour.
Next is blind baking the pastry case, to ensure you get a good crisp pastry base. Roll out the pastry to the size of your flan/pie case – I use a 9 inch / 225mm deep fluted tin – this is a VERY short pastry mix so you need to work at making it roll out as you need to fit the tin. But have patience it is worth it!
Put a layer of greaseproof paper over the pastry and case and fill the case with baking beans to weigh it down. I have ceramic beans for this task are worth investing in if you are make pies or flans even occasionally , the idea is to help stop the pastry rising, and my mum’s book states dried peas but I have seen rolled up foil used or rice also. Bake for 35 mins in an oven reg 6 / 400 deg, or as we know mostly today in the UK …..200deg C, with the last 10 mins baking with the beans and greaseproof removed
Whilst this is baking you can make the lemon filling. In a small saucepan put the sugar, water, rind and juice of the lemon and bring to a boil stirring so all dissolved. In a bowl mix the cornflour with a few drops of water to make a paste – this is going to be your thickening agent for the filling. Pour the boiled liquid into the bowl with the cornflour, mix and return to the pan. (this may seem a faff but is a good way to ensure the cornflour mixes well and is not lumpy and congealed in the filling mix. Cook this gently until it begins to thicken to a pourable consistent, remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks – this will then produce a lovely yellow finish to the filling. Pour this mixture into the pastry base.
The topping is a simple case of whisking the egg whites till they are stiff, then adding the half the sugar and a pinch of salt and beating to result in a more luxurious meringue. Pour onto the lemon mixture and shape accordingly how you like. You can pipe it if you wish, but I find a good homely feel of a spooned and shaped meringue is best. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the meringue and return to the oven for a few minutes to brown the top – approx. 10 does it for me – but your oven and personal taste kick in here.
That’s it – really simple and very tasty homemade lemon meringue!
Does keep in fridge for a little while but ALWAYS best eaten fresh
Enjoy!
The Finished Dish.
