A citrus pie recipe that you can make your own! For tips and to bake-along live, just follow along with the video.
Prep: 45 minutes
Bake: 15-30 minutes
Rest: 3-4 hours
Citrus Meringue Pie Ingredients
Crust:
Bring your favorite or prepare our butter crust from week 8, Quiche! A half recipe will do. Find the recipe here.
Filling Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 & 1/2 cups water
5 T cornstarch
1/2 cup citrus juice*
1 T zest
1/2 t salt
4 egg yolks
3 T unsalted butter
French Meringue Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 t salt
Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.
Line your pie pan with your crust and par-bake it for 10 minutes. Remove the pie weights and bake for another 5-7 minutes until the crust is almost baked.
Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.
*If you're using grapefruit juice I recommend you juice two grapefruits and then put the juice on the stovetop to reduce down to 1/2 cup to enhance the flavor. Not necessary but an option! Overall you want all of your liquid (the water and juice) to come to 2 cups total. So if you have a little more or less, that's totally fine. Just add water until you hit 2 cups.
Whisk together the cornstarch, zest, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Slowly whisk in the water and juice until combined.
Put the mixture over medium heat, whisking until it has thickened. This could take anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Check my curd's thickness at the 24:31 mark (where I am tempering the yolks).
While whisking, add about a third of your mixture to your egg yolks, a little at a time. You want to temper the yolks to avoid cooking them to scrambled eggs.
While whisking, pour the egg yolk mixture back into your curd and continue to whisk until the mixture has thickened. See mine at the 28:25 mark.
Remove from heat and whisk in butter until melted.
Pour your hot curd into your warm crust. You want everything to remain warm here!
Put your egg whites, cream of tartar (optional), and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until the whites reach soft peaks.
With the mixer on a medium speed gradually add in the granulated sugar. Once it is all incorporated add the vanilla extract and beat the egg whites on high.
Once the egg whites are glossy and stiff, stop mixing to avoid overbeating the egg whites. You're looking for gloss! Check out mine at the 37:52 mark.
Top your warm curd with the French meringue, ensuring the meringue is snug on top of the curd and is touching every part of the crust. You need it to seal nicely so the meringue doesn't weep or shrink. From here decorate as you'd like!
Bake the pie at 300°F for 15 - 30 minutes until the meringue is golden brown and is set. Any part that is still white may develop little brown liquid crystals. (Very edible but not always attractive).
Allow to rest on the counter until cool. At that point you can pop it into the fridge, uncovered, for 2-3 hours or continue to let it sit out on the counter. For long term storage make sure you cover it (use toothpicks to keep the meringue from deflating too much!)
Slice and enjoy!
Notes:
This pie is best enjoyed the day you make it, but will still be delicious for a few days! Keep it covered and in the fridge.
If you're using a pre-made/pre-cooked or crumb crust, there is no need to par-bake.
Keep in mind some warnings I give at the 7:05 mark. Using a different citrus fruit will change the citric acid and sugar quantities -- feel free to adjust your sugar level accordingly!
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