Lime Meringue Pie

Everyone I know, knows that I love to cook, specifically bake.

So when Mum and Dad decided to have a dinner party on Saturday night (to watch the footy) they asked me to bring dessert.

And as you know I’m going a little lime crazy, so the first thing I could think of was a lime meringue pie.

First well make the pastry…

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 table spoon of caster sugar
• 125 g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of cold water

Method:

• Combine sugar and flour, rub in butter until crumbly.
• Beat egg yolk and water together, add to flour mixture and mix into a firm dough.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour (don’t do it for much longer than this, I did and it was crazy hard to roll out!)
• Preheat oven to 220^o.
• On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to fit into 23 cm pie tin.
• Pierce pastry with fork and blind bake for 15 mins or until cooked through and golden brown.

To make the filling and meringue:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/3 cup corn flour
• 1 cup water
• grated rind of 2 limes
• 1/2 cup of lime juice
• 3 eggs separated
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup caster sugar, extra

Method:

• Combine 1/2 cup sugar with corn flour in a saucepan, stir in water, juice and rind.
• Cook stirring often, over moderately low heat until thickened and bubbly (it will become slightly transparent. Reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 mins. Remove from heat.
• Beat egg yolks in a bowl.  Stir  in a little of the hot filling, then return all to the pan.  Cook, stirring, for another 2-3 mins, stir in butter, then pour into pastry case.

• To make meringue – Beat egg whites (from the separated eggs) until stiff.  Gradually add extra sugar, beating constantly until meringue forms stiff, glossy peaks.
• Swirl meringue to completely cover filling.
• Bake at 220^o for 10 mins until topping is golden brown.

I seriously have only 1 photo of this delicious pie!  I definitely recommend it!  It’s not as tricky as it seems and it’s such a great feeling when you get to cut a slice!

What’s your favourite dessert?