Lemon meringue pie
Sweet and sour in a jar!
Lemon meringue pie is from far my favorite dessert, I love the great balance it gives, the sourness of the lemon curd, the sweetness of the meringue and the buttery pastry dough…
So today, I wanted to make a faster version, as you don’t have to bother with making a tart shell, just a simple three ingredients crumble.
The meringue has a marshmallowy texture, I found the recipe in the great book Salt Fat Acid Heat, which I highly recommend by the way!
I garnished the dessert with some candied lemon zests, you can find the recipe in my vegan lemon cheesecake post.
Lemon meringue pie in a jar
Ingredients
Lemon curd
- 2 eggs 100 g
- 1 ½ egg yolks 30 g
- ½ cup sugar 150 g
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch 10 g
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp lemon juice 100 ml
- 1 lemon, zests organic
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter 100 g – cut into pieces
Marshmallowy meringues – one douzain
- 1 ½ tsp cornstarch
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup egg whites room temperature
- ⅛ tsp cream of tartar
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Crumble
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter 45 g – cold
- ¼ cup brown sugar 50 g
- ⅓ cup AP flour 50 g
Lemon curd
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, the sugar and the cornstarch. Pour in the lemon juice and zests and cook on a double boiler until thick, whisking often – it’s going to get pretty foamy, the cream is ready when all the foam is gone.
Add the butter when the cream drops down to 45 °C. Mix with an immersion blender.
Store in the fridge.
Marshmallowy meringues
Preheat the oven up to 250 °F – I did 235 °F because I know my oven gets too hot.
Put the egg whites in the bowl of your stand up mixer, along with the salt and the cream of tartar. Using the whisk, beat for 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed.
In the meantime, mix together the sugar with the cornstarch.
Start adding this mix slowly to the egg whites – I did it one tablespoon at a time.
Once you put all the sugar/cornstarch in, add the vanilla extract and increase the speed, keep beating for about 3 more minutes.
You’ll end up with a very thick meringue
Using two teaspoons, scoop the meringues on a baking tray lined up with parchment paper – don’t forget to stick it with a bit of meringue in the corner.
Put in the oven and reduce the temperature to 235 °F – 215 °F for me.
Bake for 25 minutes, rotate the tray and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes – if you notice that the meringues are taking on color or crack, reduce the temperature to 200 °F.
The meringues are ready when you can easily remove them from the parchment, they need to be crispy outside and soft inside.
Let them cool down and store in a container with some parchment paper in between the layers.
Crumble
Preheat the oven up to 350 °F.
In a bowl, mix together the sugar with the flour, add the cold butter and sand with your hands.
Spread on parchment paper and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes.
Assembling the sweet and sour jar
Sprinkle about two tablespoons of the crumble in the bottom, two tablespoons of lemon curd on top and finish with a marshmallowy meringue.
You can garnish with lemon zests, candied or not, some fresh berries, a piece of crumble, roasted sliced almonds…
