Gluten Free Lemon Meringue Pie
This is the best gluten free lemon meringue pie. This is one of my many celiac friendly desserts, and like the others it will not disappoint! It makes use of my basic gluten free shortcrust pastry, which you will find in the basics section, and combines it with a delicious lemon curd and French meringue. You must make this recipe!
This recipe is made for a 9inch pie tin.
Ingredients
-For the pastry
- Basic gluten free shortcrust pastry Use the optional sugar.
-For the curd
- The juice of 3 large lemons
- The zest of 2 large lemons
- 4tbsp Water
- 100g Granulated sugar
- 2 Whole eggs + 1 egg yolk
-For the meringue
- 3 Egg whites
- 180g Caster sugar
Method
- Make the pastry following the steps for blind baking in the basic gluten free shortcrust pastry recipe, making sure to use the optional sugar and rolling out the dough to around 0.5cm thickness. Preheat your oven to 180°C and leave the rolled out dough in the pie tin in the fridge while you prepare the fillings.
- To make the lemon curd, juice and zest the lemons into a medium pot. Add the sugar and water to this and place on the hob over medium-high heat.
- In a separate bowl whisk your 2 whole eggs and egg yolk together.
- Once the lemon and sugar mixture is at a gentle boil, remove it from the heat. Pour a small amount of the lemon mixture into the eggs and immediately whisk until combined. Do this again until all of the lemon mixture is combined with the eggs.
- Add the curd mixture back to the pot and hear over medium for 3-5 minutes, stirring regularly, until it has slightly thickened. Take off the heat and set aside. You can also strain your curd just now if it looks a little lumpy or you don’t want the zest in the final curd.
- Place your chilled pie case into the preheated oven for 8 minutes to blind bake.
- While the pie case is blind baking. prepare your meringue. Use the left over egg white from the yolk used in the curd if you can, along with 2 more egg whites.
- In a large bowl whisk the egg whites up, using an electric mixer, until they are slightly fluffy. Add in 50g of your sugar and then continue to whisk until even fluffier. Keep doing this until you have added all the sugar and your meringue has reached stiff peaks. Add your sugar little by little so as not to deflate the egg whites. Add your meringue mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle.
- Reduce the heat of the oven to 160°C.
- Pour your curd into the blind baked pie case. Now pipe your meringue all over the top of the tart until all of the curd is covered. Start from the outside in.
- Place your pie on a shelf in the middle of the oven and bake for 30-35minutes. After this time turn the oven off and slightly open the oven door. Leave the pie in the off oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before slicing.
About This Recipe
Lemon meringue pie is my absolute favourite dessert to eat and to make! I have such fond memories of making lemon meringue pie with my sisters as a child and enjoying the final product as a family after tea. It is a total classic that everyone loves. It’s buttery crust, zesty filling, and creamy fluffy and extravagant meringue topping are so delightful and irresistible! This recipe is a step by step to making the best gluten free lemon meringue pie!
The pastry recipe you can find in the basics section of my website where I keep recipes for all of the basic gluten free essentials. I have also linked to the pastry recipe in the ingredients section and in the methods. The pastry is deliciously short and crumbly, while also having enough structure to hole up the dense fillings. The curd is so yummy and zesty and sets perfectly when baked. Some may use Swiss or Italian meringue here however I love the texture of a French meringue. If you wanted to though you could swich the French meringue for Swiss or Italian.
As for what season this pie fits into, I have no idea! Its citrusy flavours from the curd are so fitting for spring summer, while the indulgence of the meringue topping and buttery crust scream autumn winter. Really, I think this is an all year round dessert that is perfect for any occasion!
FAQs
Question: Why wont my meringue whip up?
- The most likely explanation here is that there was some kind of oil, water or residue in your bowl, or a bit of egg yolk ended up with your whites. Fat or water will inhibit your egg whites from whipping up and unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about this. Another reason could be that you put too much sugar in at once knocking out the air you whipped into the egg whites, or you added the sugar too soon before there was enough air whipped into the egg whites. This you can fix, just keep whipping it and add a tbsp of cornflour or a tsp of cream of tartar.
Question: Why is my lemon meringue pie not set?
- This can either mean that you have not cooked it for long enough, or you have not let it cool completely. The lemon curd will set when you cook it, however when it is hot it is still quite liquid. Allowing it to cool will let the curd firm up for cutting.
Question: Why is my pastry soggy?
- This could be because you didn’t blind bake it for long enough or at a high enough temperature, though the recipe gives a time and temp every oven is different. purchase an internal oven thermometer which will give you a much more accurate temperature reading that you oven itself will. It could also be that the curd was too runny when you poured it into the tart case. You must make sure to put the curd back over the heat once the eggs have been tempered in. This allows it to thicken up a bit and it will me less likely to make your pastry soggy.
If you have any more questions feel free to email me them at loveglutenfree.kitchen@outlook.com
Love Gluten Free
Hey! I’m Caroline, I love baking and cooking and finding new ingredients to create better gluten free alternatives. In 2015 I found out I had coeliac and since then it has been my mission to find great ways to make gluten free food better.
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