Lemon Meringue / Lemon Bars

I've tried it with pastry crust but the traditional biscuit base is just so much better.

Also try adding the zest of one lemon into the whipped egg whites. Or play with some flavour combos. Granadilla works as a fantastic substitute for the lemon if you wanna try alternatives. Or pineapple.

Or try lemon and lime. Lime only. Lemon and thyme in the egg white. Honey. Mint. Pepper. Champagne or white wine. There are so many citrus flavour combinations out there...
 
beans100 said:
Looks awesome, not complaining or criticizing, but I like my crust a little ticker......and I don't use this size plates, it wouldn't fit the pieces I cut :D
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Oh no. Crit away. I believe it is the best way to learn.

First time I tried it. And I agree that the crust might have been a little thin.
 
DJ... said:
I've tried it with pastry crust but the traditional biscuit base is just so much better.

Also try adding the zest of one lemon into the whipped egg whites. Or play with some flavour combos. Granadilla works as a fantastic substitute for the lemon if you wanna try alternatives. Or pineapple.

Or try lemon and lime. Lime only. Lemon and thyme in the egg white. Honey. Mint. Pepper. Champagne or white wine. There are so many citrus flavour combinations out there...
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Awesome. Will definitely try different combos next time.

My meringue mixture did have 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in. Will try the zest next time.
 
ponder said:
What recipe did you use?
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Ina Paarman's...

As stated earlier... I used more lemon juice than the recipe called for.

I also left out (okay I forgot about it) the cornflour bit. Still came out perfect. Meringue and pie was no where near separating.

I also didn't use nearly 125 ml boiling water. More like 30ml.
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CRUST
1 x 200 g pkt tennis biscuits
¼ cup (60 ml) real butter, melted

FILLING
2 x 397 g tins of full cream sweetened condensed milk
½ cup (125 ml) boiling water
1 T (15 ml) grated lemon rind
½ cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
2 t (10 ml) cornflour

MERINGUE LAYER
4 egg whites
2 t (10 ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (60 ml) castor sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Use a non-stick spray (this is one of the very few times that I use it) to spray the inside of a 22cm pie dish. Crush the biscuits or whiz them in a food processor until broken. Add the melted butter and blend very briefly until just mixed through.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared dish and spread out. Work the crumbs up the sides of the dish and flatten with the back of a tablespoon. Put in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm while you prepare the filling.

Beat the condensed milk (use the boiling water to get every bit out of the tins), lemon rind, lemon juice, egg yolks and salt together until thoroughly mixed.

Remove the crust from the freezer and pour the filling gently over the back of a spoon so as not to disturb the crumbs of the pie crust.

Bake the pie (without the meringue for 20 minutes). To make the meringue beat the egg whites in a spotless glass or stainless steel bowl until just beginning to foam. Add the lemon juice and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Add the castor sugar, a spoonful at a time, while beating hard. Sift the icing sugar over in 3 batches and also beat it in hard.

The meringue mixture must now be stiff and shiny and be able to hold its shape. Remove the pie from the oven - sift the 2 t of cornflour over the filling (this acts as glue to hold the filling and the meringue together). Spoon the meringue over the hot filling in great big blobs - working right up and over the edge of the crust. Fluff the meringue up with a spatula and return the pie to the oven. Bake for another 25 minutes. Open the oven door 1cm, switch off the oven and leave the pie in the oven to cool down.

When the pie is cool transfer it to the fridge to store - this will prevent 'tears' forming on the meringue - the air in the fridge is much drier than the regular atmosphere outside
 
I'm not a fan of lemon meringue but yours looks very good! Maybe I should try a home baked version to really appreciate it.
 
Good on you for making it yourself, always tastes soooooo much better! :D

I'm not a fan of the meringue so I usually make the Lemon Bars or just a very, very lemony baked cheesecake ...... with lemon cheese on top too, lol.
 
ponder said:
Ta! Might attempt a granadilla one this coming weekend, love those things.
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I've sourced the ultimate granadilla Syrup so I suppose a light granadilla custard based pie would work. Let it set and top with whipped cream flavoured with red poppies.

I still prefer a big slice of Key Lime pie over lemon anyday
 
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Hosehead said:
I've sourced the ultimate granadilla Syrup so I suppose a light granadilla custard based pie would work. Let it set and top with whipped cream flavoured with red poppies.
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There's an awesome granadilla 'jelly' available from bake-a-ton (dunno if it's local only or not) that is just so nice to work with.
 
ponder said:
Ta! Might attempt a granadilla one this coming weekend, love those things.
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Please share pics and results.

Oh... Just another piece of advice!

Make sure you have a working electric egg whisking thingy... Mine stopped working after 2min of whisking the egg whites. I then had to continue whisking by hand.

My mom asked how long it takes to whisk egg whites into a meringue... I answered: "Until you are tired, and then another 10min"

My arms are killing me today.
 
APoc184 said:
Oh... Just another piece of advice!

Make sure you have a working electric egg whisking thingy... Mine stopped working after 2min of whisking the egg whites. I then had to continue whisking by hand.

My mom asked how long it takes to whisk egg whites into a meringue... I answered: "Until you are tired, and then another 10min"

My arms are killing me today.
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Been there done that :D

Mixer has a nice wisk attachment that makes this go really quickly.

Just wondering if I should keep the pips for 'prettyness' or removes them.
 
I decided to make a lemon meringue over the weekend, since it was my SO's birthday.

I used the juice of two lemons...it was way too much and really overpowering.

My meringue mixture didn't come out great the first time, it was watery and cloudy because I added too much lemon juice I think. I had to make a second batch and only had 3 eggs left, so it didn't achieve that fancy meringue height.

Eating it warm was not nice, so I left it in the fridge and ate it the next morning. Tasted much much better. I also whipped some fresh cream to go with it, and this improved the taste of the dessert a great deal.

I gave most of it away to my SO's friends, they gobbled it right up and demanded that I make another one.

I don't think I will make it again, it's way too much effort! I have a friend who sells home made lemon meringues using pastry, so next time I will just give her a call.
 
Ms_S said:
I decided to make a lemon meringue over the weekend, since it was my SO's birthday.

I used the juice of two lemons...it was way too much and really overpowering.

My meringue mixture didn't come out great the first time, it was watery and cloudy because I added too much lemon juice I think. I had to make a second batch and only had 3 eggs left, so it didn't achieve that fancy meringue height.

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when you whip egg whites the bowl and whipper must be scruples clean.Not a spot of grease or worse not a tiny dot of yolk.
when you beat the eggs add a pinch of cream of tartar to get stiffer peaks than Viagra does.
 
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