Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie

This pie has a perfectly creamy and tangy filling. It’s topped with a light and fluffy meringue. It’s a lemon lover’s dream for the perfect spring dessert.

Prep Time:30

Cook Time:1 25

Total Time:1 55

Servings: slices

Ingredients

1 9-inch pie crust frozen
1 ½ cups water
2 lemons juiced and zested
4 egg yolks beaten
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a pie pan. Unroll the pie crust and press down into the pie pan. Press against the sides and the bottom. Top the crust with something heavy (beans, rice, ceramic weights) and bake for 12 - 15 minutes until the edges of the crust just begin to turn golden.
To make the lemon filling, to a medium saucepan add 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, and whisk. Add water, lemon juice, and zest and bring the mixture to a boil. Add butter.
To a small bowl add egg yolks and gradually add ½ cup of hot sugar mixture.
Add egg yolk mixture to the remaining sugar mixture, bring to a boil and continue cooking until thick. Transfer the filling to a baked pastry shell.
To make the meringue, to a large glass or metal bowl add egg whites and whip until foamy.
Slowly add sugar, and continue whipping until stiff peaks are formed.
Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Notes

You want to blind bake (or pre-bake) your pie before you add the filling so that your pie crust is perfectly cooked and flaky. If you do not have ceramic pie weights, you can use dried beans or rice to hold the pie crust down in the oven.
Do not skip the step of tempering the egg yolks. If you introduce the eggs to the hot sugar mixture too quickly, they’ll scramble!
When you make your meringue, make sure there are no traces of egg yolk in your egg whites or else you won’t get stiff peaks.
Whip your meringue to stiff peaks so it holds its shape. If you under-whip, it’ll be liquid when you slice your pie.
Be careful not to overwhip your meringue as it’ll be too firm and might collapse when you bake it. Luckily, it takes a lot of whipping for this to happen so it’s unlikely to be a problem!

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