Lemon Meringue Pie

This weekend turned out to be pretty awesome, quite by chance! I had some good news on Friday which at first just seemed ok, but the more I thought about it, the happier I became. This set the tone for a weekend that was filled with friends, family, partying, baking and chilling - lots of chilling. 

On Saturday my friend stayed over and made me some traditional Spanish tortilla, which is one of my favourites. I had planned on taking pictures but ate everything before I remembered (sorry!) Anyways I decided to bake and fancied something lemony as I had a few left over in the fridge. Enter Stage right, Mary Berry, genius of all things British and bakey with this amazing Lemon Meringue Pie. 

This picture of the pie in the oven is the only one I took of it whole, once it came out it got eaten... It's that good!

Before I share the recipe with you, let me say that this pie is DELICIOUS, like "there's no need for you to taste this good" kind of delicious. Someone really ought to give it it's own TV show or something....

Lemon Meringue Pie (adapted from Mary Berry's 100 Sweet Treats And Puds)

serves 6

for the base:

175g/6oz digestive biscuits

75g/3oz butter (I used unsalted but she doesn't specify)

for the filling:

1 tin (397g/14oz) full-fat condensed milk

3 large egg yolks

finely chopped/grated lemon zest and juice of 3 lemons

for the meringue:

3 large egg whites

175g/6oz caster sugar

(you can increase this by 1 egg white and 60g of caster sugar for extra meringue-ness)

Equipment needed:

Rolling pin

a deep 20cm (8") flutted flan dish. I used a bigger dish and got a flatter pie but it still worked.

Preheat the oven to 190oC/fan 170oC/gas 5

Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs in a plastic sandwich bag using a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a medium sized pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs. Press into the bottom and sides of the flan dish and leave to set. I left mine in the fridge whilst I made the filling.

Pour the condensed milk into a bowl, then beat in the egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice. Pour the mixture into the biscuit lined dish.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gradually add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking well between each addition until very stiff and all of the sugar had been added.

I spooned on about half of the mixture on to the pie and covered the surface before piping some cones on top using the rest for dramatic effect and because I felt like it! :)

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until the meringue is light brown. I had my oven too low and got tired of waiting which is why my meringue is so light in colour. Leave to cool for about 30 mins or until you can't wait any longer and then tuck in! This pie tastes super amazing warm.... I'm in love!

Here's to a great week!

Peace & Love

xx