This recipe isn't necessarily difficult, just a little more involved. There are quite a few steps, and more things that could go wrong than usual.
Couple things to watch out for:
a) When mixing the egg yolk into the hot custard mixture, DO NOT let the egg rest at any time. Keep mixing! You don't want scrambled egg yolk bits in your lemon custard. If you make the curd ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge, it thickens and solidifies more than when it's made right before baking.
b) Make sure you pre bake the crust, then bake just the lemon custard in the crust, and then the crust, custard, and meringue all together. The intensity of this baking process may seem unnecessary, but is truly indispensable. If you don't, I promise that your custard will not set and you'll have yellow goop topped with a perfectly crisped fluffy egg white cloud.
c) It's also probably a good idea to make this pie the day before you want to eat it. Letting the pie set in the fridge overnight will also prevent spillage the day of.
Citrus Meringue Pie
serves 8 Ingredients For Custard - 1 tbsp zest of citrus fruit (lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruit, etc) - 1/2 cup juice of citrus fruit - 1 1/2 cup water - 1/3 cup cornstarch - 1 1/3 cup sugar - 4 egg yolks (save whites for meringue) - 3 tbsp butter - 1 unbaked pie crust For Meringue - 4 egg whites - 1/4 cup sugar - pinch of cream of tartar - tsp vanilla | To prepare
In the meanwhile - prepare the meringue.
Serve with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and candied lemon rinds for added garnish. |