Because I want you to be happy, I made Lemon Meringue Pie.

Happy Pie-Day Friday (or Friday Pie-Day, whatever)! We all need something fluffy and bright today, so lemon meringue pie was the perfect choice for this week.

Lemon Meringue pie is near and dear to my heart. My Grandma Mary Jane (I called her Grams) would always bring over a lemon meringue pie to our house for Christmas, and I couldn’t WAIT to dive into it. I always liked her careful pricking of the meringue with the fork, to make peaks that get good and crispy in the oven. Her’s were MUCH more careful than mine. I just sort of got in there with a fork and created marshmallow chaos.

Lemon meringue pie with peaks made with fork tines.
Cloudy with a chance of chaos.

Fun fact: “Canned Peaches” nearly had the name “Lemon Meringue” instead. I couldn’t decide between the two for about a week, and eventually landed on Canned Peaches. (Give me a few glasses of prosecco and I’ll tell you what my original name for the project was. It’s dicey.)

Sadly, I don’t think I have my grandma’s recipe for lemon meringue pie, so I ended up taking pieces of Stella Parks’ lemon meringue pie from Bravetart and pieces of my own pie recipes and cobbling together a pie that suited my, previously unbeknownst, particularities regarding this pie.

Yeah I really had no idea I was so picky about lemon meringue, and turns out I’m a real Yankee about it. The idea of Stella Parks’ recipe is to make a mile-high meringue pie, which sounds like a blast! I followed her meringue recipe, piled it on top of the prepared pie, cackled to myself in shock, said “Oh no no no no no” and took half of it off. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t eat that much meringue.

How much meringue the original recipe in Bravetart makes. I just can’t do it. Can you?

So, I present to you a recipe inspired by how my upstate New York grandma raised me to eat pie, informed by my own pie-making experience, and borrowing from one of my favorite pastry writers – even though I can’t get down like that. How much meringue can you eat on top of your pie? Seeing the results of her recipe made me curious about this.

If you love lemon meringue for the tart lemon, this is the version for you. Stella’s pie is 2:1 meringue:custard. This is 1:1.

I’ve also included my own butter crust recipe as well. Enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie, for Lemon Lovers

Adapted from Stella Parks' recipe in Bravetart. This version is perfect for people who love a nice tart lemon pie, with a healthy pile of meringue…but not too much.
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Servings 8 people

Equipment

  • Stand mixer with whisk and paddle attachments
  • Plastic wrap
  • 9" pie plate
  • Rolling pin
  • Parchment paper
  • Baking beans, rice or pie weights.
  • 3-quart pot with handle
  • Fine mesh strainer

Ingredients
  

For Crust:

  • 9 oz all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 6 oz cold butter
  • 3 oz cold water (you might need less, but have this much on hand)

For Lemon Custard:

  • 12 oz sugar (about 1 3/4 cups)
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 5 oz egg yolks, about 8 large eggs-worth
  • 3 T lemon zest
  • 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (6-8 lemons, depending on how large and juicy they are)
  • 2 1/4 cups water
  • 1/4 tsp orange flower water (optional, but recommended)

For the Meringue:

  • 4 oz egg whites, about 4 eggs-worth
  • 6 oz sugar
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Make crust:

  • In bowl of stand mixer, measure flour, sugar & salt. Paddle together until evenly mixed. Cube cold butter, and add to mixing bowl. Paddle until butter chunks are pea-sized.
  • Slowly add water, 1 TBSP at a time. Use as little water as necessary to make dough start clumping together into a shaggy mass (dough should not feel wet, and there might be a bit of dry ingredients still at bottom of bowl.)
  • Roll out a large square of plastic wrap, and turn contents of bowl onto plastic wrap. Use fingers to form into a disc, using plastic wrap to help you. Once dough is satisfactorily in a disc, wrap dough up entirely in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and pull dough out of fridge. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes to become pliable. Use rolling pin to roll disc out to 1/8" thickness. Drape dough over pie plate, trim the edges so they have about 1" over hang, and crimp. Let chill in fridge for 25 minutes. Line pie plate with parchment, and fill with baking beans/rice or use pie weights. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until side are golden brown. Remove parchment with beans from pie crust, and return pie crust to oven. Bake for another 10 minutes, until bottom of pie crust is golden.

Make Lemon Custard:

  • Mix together sugar, salt and cornstarch in a 3 qt pot, then whisk in egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and water. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking gently, until the custard is steaming hot, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium and continue cooking until custard is thick and bubbling. Allow to bubble, while whisking continually, for 2 minutes.
  • Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl – you'll probably need to use the back of a flexible spatula or ladle to push custard through. Add orange flower water.
  • Pour into blind-baked pie crust, and place in fridge to chill for a half hour before adding meringue.

Make Meringue and Bake Pie:

  • Preheat oven to 375 and adjust a rack to be in the middle of the oven.
  • Find a a medium sized pot that the bowl to your stand mixer can easily rest on top of, to use as a double boiler. (maybe that pot you used to make the custard? Wash it out while you're washing that stand mixer bowl) Fill that pot with about 3 inches of water, and test that your bowl can fit on top without touching the water. Put the pot on medium-high heat and let come to a simmer.
  • Whisk together egg whites, sugar, salt, cream of tartar and vanilla, then put on top of simmering water. Whisk continually over heat until mixture gets to 175 degrees. Sugar should be dissolved, and mixture should look less like snot. Take bowl off double boiler, and put into your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
  • Whisk on high speed until glossy, voluminous and barely warm to the touch. It will look like shiny clouds.
  • Immediately pour meringue on top of custard. Spread around with spatula, and, if desired, use a fork to twirl and prick the meringue. You could also choose to pipe the meringue on top of the pie, or mound it all on top like a pyramid. Have a fun time!
  • Place pie on a sheet pan, and bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Meringue should be toasty and golden brown all over (a few darker spots can be exciting.) Remove from oven, and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in fridge. Pie should be served entirely chilled.