Mother's Day Lemon Meringue Pie

Happy Mother's Day (in most parts of the world)! And spring has finally arrived in London, so decided that a suitable pudding would be fruity as chocolate is probably too heavy?!? 

Lemon Meringue Pie is a shortcrust pastry base, a layer of lemon curd and then a thick layer of meringue on top of that. It has a lot of stages but if you ignore the vast quantity of bowls you need it is relatively easy. You can buy these but they are often very very very sweet so if you make it yourself you tend to get more of a balance between sour lemon and sweet meringue.

Ingredients

For pastry: 

150g plain flour

50g caster sugar

90g butter

1 egg yolk

a little whole milk

For curd:

25g cornflour

200ml water

zest and juice of 3 lemons

100g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

40g butter

For meringue:

4 egg whites

200g caster sugar

Enough ingredients or...?

Method

1. Make the pastry: mix the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl so that it forms a crumb like consistency. Add the egg yolk and just enough milk to make the crumbs stick together in lumps. Then bring the pastry together, refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

3. Roll out the pastry and bake blind in a greased 23cm tin. Baking blind is when you cover the pastry in foil and then put baking beans (or raw pasta or rice) on to the top. This keeps the pastry in shape.

4. Cook for 15 mins. Remove the beans and then cook for 10 mins until the pastry is golden brown. Then leave to cool.

5. Meanwhile make the curd. Mix the cornflour with a third of the water in a bowl.

6. Bring the remaining water to the boil, then add lemon zest and sugar. Once dissolved, pour in cornflour solution and mix until smooth. 

7. Remove from the heat and then stir in butter, then lemon juice and finally egg yolks. If there are lumps it may be useful to strain it in a sieve but it doesn't really matter. 

8. Pour the lemon curd onto the cooled pastry and leave to chill until the curd firms up. This will stop the meringue layer from mixing with the curd. 

9. If you have turned the oven off, preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

10. Whisk the four egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then, at a tablespoon at a time, add the sugar, whisking after each addition until smooth and glossy. 

11. Spoon the meringue onto the lemon curd layer (if you want to be neat you can pipe the meringue but I don't think it is necessary) and bake for around 20 mins or until the meringue is golden and crispy on the top. 

12. Leave to cool and then eat. 

15 things about me

Bit of a weird blog post coming up but, recently I realized that I write on this without anyone who reads it knowing anything about me. So here is a list of things about me just so you know more about me, rather than thinking that I was just a weird blog writing oven.


1. I study history, English, French and maths for A level at a central London girls school.

2. I have two younger brothers called Adam and Charlie.

3. I am left-handed.

4. My first C.D. was S Club 7 and I still listen to it occasionally- unashamedly I might add!

5. My favorite film is "easy A", I could watch it everyday for a year.

6. Potterhead and proud.

7. I am the most indecisive person- I just don't want to make the wrong choice which someone won't like...

8. Slow walkers, loud chewers and knuckle crackers, are the most annoying people in the world.

9. I am scared of dogs to the extent to which I have crossed the road, multiple times, in the past to avoid them.

10. I play with my ears constantly but especially when I am bored or nervous.

11. I walk to school, which means going past this everyday which is pretty fab.

12. My favourite food is lemon drizzle cake and I posted a recipe of it.

13. I own 5 cameras and I still want more...

14. I did ballet from the age of 5 to 14 and during that time I performed over 30 times at the Bloomsbury theatre and once at the Royal Opera House in London. 

15. My addiction to buying baking books is still growing even though I now rarely follow the recipes exactly.

That's me, well 15 random facts about me which may or may not be interesting to you... 

Normal recipe post up within the next couple of days...

White Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Long time no see!

Anyway, here is a quick little recipe which I think is fab and perfect for snacking on, the only problem is they are very addictive.

Ingredients:
Caster Sugar - 200g
Butter - 150g
Plain Flour - 200g
Milk- 1tbsp
Vanilla- 1 tsp
White Chocolate (in chips) - 75g

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees fan

Cream sugar and butter together
Mix in flour, vanilla extract and milk until smooth
Stir in the white chocolate chips. Leave to stand for 30 minutes.
Break the dough up into small balls and put on a greased tin.
Bake for 10 minutes until golden around the edges.

Leave to cool or eat warm!