Lemon Meringue pie
This lemon meringue pie recipe is a great old recipe from a school recipe book! Never fails and well worth it. I am all about easy recipes and lemon meringue pie made this way is both easy and delicious and will even impress your mother in law!
Lemon meringue pies have been known to make me susceptible to all sorts of persuasion, so if you need to persuade someone to do something for you, it’s quite simple make them a lemon meringue pie! 🙂
What you need
¾ packet tennis biscuits
75 mls melted butter
1 tin of condensed milk
Zest of 2 lemons
100 ml lemon juice
4 egg yolks
2 egg whites
75 ml castor sugar
The process
Crush the biscuits, melt the butter in a mixing jug in the microwave (just makes it a little quicker and less messy)
Add the biscuit crumbs to the butter and mix well.
Line the bottom of the pie dish with the biscuit crumbs and chill in the fridge.
Mix the condensed milk, juice and rind of lemon and egg yolks together and pour onto the pie shell.
Beat the egg whites until stiff add the castor sugar slowly and mix and when thick and full spread on top of the filling.
Bake for 20-30 mins at 160C until meringue is light brown.
Don’t wait until its cool, leave it for a few minutes if you can and dig in, Its really great.
For something really simple and special as a cold dessert try the easy lemon flan recipe. It’s from a famous Johannesburg restaurant and takes just 15 minutes to make.
Hi Graham
Found an uncooked lemon meringue recipe – from James Martin. You use the same base as yours, then add a mixture of mascarpone/cream cheese, icing sugar and store-bought lemon curd. The topping is meringue that you brown using a kitchen blow torch.
It is awesome and really easy!
Have a great father’s day.
IK
Thanks Irma, that sounds really quick and easy, will hunt it down and try it. I just love lemon pies… Delicious days G
Hi Graham,
great website. am going to try your recipe tomorrow for my family and will let you know how it turns out…hopefully good..lekker dag vir jou 🙂
Fantastic Asti, so glad you found us and we all look forward to hearing about your food adventures, have a delicious evening G
Hi, Graham
Have you ever added a jelly to your lemon meringue? I was given a recipe that includes adding a lemon jelly and it was fantastic!!!!
Hi Pat, that does sound interesting but cannot say I’ve tried it. I make a dessert with jelly and evaporated milk that is awesome but not a lemon meringue. Have you got the recipe? Have a lekker day G
I am looking forward to this weekend to make the lemon meringue for my kids.
The kids are going to love it Bernice, have a fantastic time. G
Hi Graham
this recipe i have been looking for for years. just made it..my family ecstatic. well done.
🙂
So glad you found us Jessica and enjoy every mouthful. Cheers for now G
Graham,
Do you know of a meringue recipe that you can put on the lemon filling that you don’t have to bake? I ate it at a coffee shop once (with gold dust and a piece of lavender on the top) and decided that that is the perfect “wedding cake” – my day is 26 days away and I haven’t found a recipe yet! The coffee shop won’t part with their recipe, so I’m a little stuck. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Hi Jeanine, you can use a regular meringue recipe, some lemon meringue is just browned on the outside but sweet and fluffy inside. Happy days to you and your man. Cheers for now G
Hi, please add to the above recipe where you say that if you don’t use the meringue topping, that you don’t have to bake it.. that its important to eat it immediately. Raw eggs in food carry the risk of Salmonella poisoning.
Not everyone is clued up about the use of uncooked eggs in food, so rather bake it and be safe.
Thanks for that Naomi, I assumed that it would last as long as it does in my home… about 10 minutes, Cheers G
Hi Graham, this is the second time i tried to make a lemon maringue pie and the same thing happened both times – there is a runny syrup-like layer over the yellow bit, then i popped it in the fridge and it helped thicken a bit but the syrup was still there. What am i doing wrong???? Or is it normal????
Hi Tiffany, this does happen quite often and is usually caused by the meringue being placed onto a cold filling or if your kitchen is quite humid. The best way to deal with it is to add about 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to the meringue mixture or to ensure that the filling is warm when you place the meringue on top. The water is condensation which has been unable to escape. Hope that helps. G
Hi Graham!
My son in England is crazy about lemon meringe pie, but i never make it.I find that the meringue tends to “seperate” and leave a thin layer of raw egg white on the pie – and I hate it!! How can I prevent this layer to form? Or am I just full of nonsense?
Hi Helena, from what you describe you may be over beating the meringue but remember, the meringue is not a crisp meringue on the pie it’s more like a soft sweet and fluuffy topping that has been lightly browned. To get meringue crisp takes a long time in the oven but there is nothing stopping you making the meringue separately and then placing on top of the pie, a bit like making a pavlova base. Give it a try, put the love into it and it will turn out beautifully. Cheers for now G
Thanks, Graham! I’ll give it a try.
thanks, wanted to know why does the meringue flop.and not peak well after adding sugar
Hi Fatima, the meringue is a soft meringue which you need to peak when you put it on top, It won’t rise but will be soft and browned on the top. Cheers G