Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie

SUBMITTED BY: Emilie S. PHOTO BY: Rachel

"This is a very fun recipe to follow, because Grandma makes it sweet and simple. This pie is thickened with cornstarch and flour in addition to egg yolks, and contains no milk."

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PREP TIME	30 Min
COOK TIME	10 Min
READY IN	40 Min
Original recipe yield 1 - 9 inch pie

SERVINGS

(Help)

Servings
USMETRIC

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar

What to Drink?
	Coffee

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

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REVIEWS

Reviewed on sep. 23, 2005 by CARTHECOOK

This was a great pie after some tweaking as follows: for the filling I used 1 1/4 cups of... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 23, 2003 by TRUDY WOLCOTT

Update 12/03: I still think this is a great recipe. In perfecting my technique, I'd like to... MORE

Reviewed on jun. 7, 2005 by AUDREY25

Excellent recipe! Nice and lemony, not too sweet with good proportions of curd and meringue.... MORE

Reviewed on oct. 24, 2007 by mamazilla

Full Review

The reviewer gave this recipe 5 stars. This recipe averages a 4.61 star rating.

mamazilla
oct. 24, 2007

Finally I have found the perfect recipe for lemon meringue pie! I made this tonight for my dad and it came out great. The only thing that I wasn't clear on was the amount of lemon juice to use. 2 lemons can mean different things to different people. I used 1/2 cup of lemon juice(about 3 lemons) and 1 tablespoon of zest. It was the perfect balance of sweet and tart. Also, it doesn't mention how to cool it. I left it at room temperature for about an hour and then put it in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. One tip I have is after the lemon filling starts to boil, only boil it for 1 minute so the cornstarch doesn't lose its thickening power. Then, after you add the tempered eggs back into the hot mixture, boil one more minute and it will be a perfect thickness. Also, when you fill the pie crust with the lemon filling, the crust should still be warm and when you top the pie with the meringue, the filling should still be pretty warm. This will help seal the meringue after it cools so it doesn't separate from the crust. I will definitely keep this recipe and I have a feeling I will be making this again very soon.

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195 users found this review helpful

Finally I have found the perfect recipe for lemon meringue pie! I made this tonight for my... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 23, 2003 by MZMUFFIN

I'm an experienced baker but never tried lemon meringue pie because it's not my favorite. The... MORE

Reviewed on jan. 21, 2007 by TTROELL

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TTROELL
jan. 21, 2007

this pie was fantastic...after two tries of making it. the first try, it didn't make nearly enough to fill the pie plate (a deep dish 9" plate). also, it made kind of a gelatinous, almost clear jelly type substance. the flavor was good, but not at all what i was expecting. so, i dumped it and tried again the next day. after reading ALL the reviews, i followed Angela's suggestions from page 10. I changed the servings to 12, used milk instead of water (huge difference), used the zest from 3 lemons and the juice i got from them, which was 1/2 c., which was perfect, i also used about 1/2 tablespoon more cornstarch. making those changes yielded a yellow custard that i am used to seeing in lemon pies. after whisking the egg mixture back in, i lowered the heat to medium low and stirred until i felt it was thick enough. (maybe 10-15 minutes of constant stirring). after i spooned it into the pie shell and topped with meringue i let it cool to room temperature for over an hour then put it in the fridge for about 4 hours before i served it. i used Pie Crust IV and Meringue II from this site. it was, as my, self-proclaimed-lemon-meringue-pie- connoisseur father said: "pretty damn impressive". (he had thirds)

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100 users found this review helpful

this pie was fantastic...after two tries of making it. the first try, it didn't make nearly... MORE