Lemon Faux-Meringue Pie
Recipe created by Alison, inspired by a highly-adapted recipe for formerly-vegan lemon curd originally found on someone else’s food blog.
My piece de resistance, the eggiest thing you could ever think of, now with NO EGGS.
Contains dairy and gluten.
You will need the following three components:
Dough, chilled in the refrigerator, then par-baked into pie crust (bottom crust only)
Formerly-vegan lemon curd, cooled at least slightly
Marshmallow layer
For the pie crust:
1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
1 stick lactose-free butter, Whole foods brand, cubed into small pieces
Approx 1/8 cup cold water to achieve pie dough consistency
Whisk dry ingredients to combine, then cut in butter until dough is the consistency of frozen peas. Use pastry cutter or hands to incorporate cold water until the dough can be easily formed into a ball. Wrap in plastic baggie and refrigerate ½ hour to 1 hour until dough can be rolled out.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out dough and place in the pie plate, making the edges look beautiful (you’ll need to trim them because there will be a little extra dough for your 9-inch pie plate.) Cover carefully with aluminum foil and use less-favorite rice as pie weights to make sure the crust doesn’t puff up while par-baking: pour about 2 to 3 cups of rice onto the foil to weigh down the crust without getting any rice stuck on your dough. If you don’t cover the very edges with the foil at the top of the pie plate, then you’ll be able to see when they are golden brown.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden-brown around the edges, then remove foil and pie weights (preferably without spilling the rice into the pie plate) and let cool enough towards room temperature so that it doesn’t cook the lemon curd when you pour the lemon curd into it! You can cool it completely if you plan ahead really well, but as long as it cools for at least 10 minutes, it’ll be totally fine.
For the lemon curd:
Ingredients:
About 5 lemons to create the zest of 2 lemons plus 1 cup juice (it’s easier to zest before you juice)
½ cup water
1½ cups white sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt
⅓ cup milk or just more water
2 tbsp lactose-free butter (Whole Foods brand) divided into 3 or 4 pats of butter for easy whisking in at the crucial moment
Directions:
In the bowl of the blender, combine lemon juice, water, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Pulse in the blender until the mixture is smooth, then pour it into a medium-sized pot. Use a medium pot, NOT a small pot, because the mixture will boil dramatically, and you need enough extra space in the pot to avoid boiling over onto the stove!
Turn the heat to medium and whisk almost-constantly until the mixture comes to a full boil, about 10 to 15 minutes. Boil for one minute undisturbed so it noticeably thickens and turns clear-er. Remove from heat and IMMEDIATELY whisk in VIGOROUSLY the lemon zest, milk/water, and pats of butter.
Allow the lemon curd to thicken and cool in the saucepan for at least 10 minutes before assembly the pie.
Assembly:
Pour the lemon curd over the pie crust, use a spatula to make the layer even, and bake at 350 for 22 minutes, then remove from oven briefly in order to create the faux-meringue.
Sprinkle the marshmallows artfully to cover most of the pie, then return to the oven for 5 to 8 minutes while checking frequently so that the marshmallows become melted and begin to caramelize in a golden-brown fashion without burning.
Buon appetito!
Note: If you cut into it while it’s hot, it will ooze a little, but you should eat it anyway because it’s amazing hot from the oven. Let the remainder of the pie chill in the fridge, and keep eating it out of the fridge, since it’ll cut better when it’s cool... Between me having a piece, Arlene and Ben having a taste, and Mark having multiple pieces, we finished half the pie in one sitting though!
Recipe created by Alison, inspired by a highly-adapted recipe for formerly-vegan lemon curd originally found on someone else’s food blog.
My piece de resistance, the eggiest thing you could ever think of, now with NO EGGS.
Contains dairy and gluten.
You will need the following three components:
Dough, chilled in the refrigerator, then par-baked into pie crust (bottom crust only)
Formerly-vegan lemon curd, cooled at least slightly
Marshmallow layer
For the pie crust:
1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
1 stick lactose-free butter, Whole foods brand, cubed into small pieces
Approx 1/8 cup cold water to achieve pie dough consistency
Whisk dry ingredients to combine, then cut in butter until dough is the consistency of frozen peas. Use pastry cutter or hands to incorporate cold water until the dough can be easily formed into a ball. Wrap in plastic baggie and refrigerate ½ hour to 1 hour until dough can be rolled out.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out dough and place in the pie plate, making the edges look beautiful (you’ll need to trim them because there will be a little extra dough for your 9-inch pie plate.) Cover carefully with aluminum foil and use less-favorite rice as pie weights to make sure the crust doesn’t puff up while par-baking: pour about 2 to 3 cups of rice onto the foil to weigh down the crust without getting any rice stuck on your dough. If you don’t cover the very edges with the foil at the top of the pie plate, then you’ll be able to see when they are golden brown.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden-brown around the edges, then remove foil and pie weights (preferably without spilling the rice into the pie plate) and let cool enough towards room temperature so that it doesn’t cook the lemon curd when you pour the lemon curd into it! You can cool it completely if you plan ahead really well, but as long as it cools for at least 10 minutes, it’ll be totally fine.
For the lemon curd:
Ingredients:
About 5 lemons to create the zest of 2 lemons plus 1 cup juice (it’s easier to zest before you juice)
½ cup water
1½ cups white sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt
⅓ cup milk or just more water
2 tbsp lactose-free butter (Whole Foods brand) divided into 3 or 4 pats of butter for easy whisking in at the crucial moment
Directions:
In the bowl of the blender, combine lemon juice, water, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Pulse in the blender until the mixture is smooth, then pour it into a medium-sized pot. Use a medium pot, NOT a small pot, because the mixture will boil dramatically, and you need enough extra space in the pot to avoid boiling over onto the stove!
Turn the heat to medium and whisk almost-constantly until the mixture comes to a full boil, about 10 to 15 minutes. Boil for one minute undisturbed so it noticeably thickens and turns clear-er. Remove from heat and IMMEDIATELY whisk in VIGOROUSLY the lemon zest, milk/water, and pats of butter.
Allow the lemon curd to thicken and cool in the saucepan for at least 10 minutes before assembly the pie.
Assembly:
Pour the lemon curd over the pie crust, use a spatula to make the layer even, and bake at 350 for 22 minutes, then remove from oven briefly in order to create the faux-meringue.
Sprinkle the marshmallows artfully to cover most of the pie, then return to the oven for 5 to 8 minutes while checking frequently so that the marshmallows become melted and begin to caramelize in a golden-brown fashion without burning.
Buon appetito!
Note: If you cut into it while it’s hot, it will ooze a little, but you should eat it anyway because it’s amazing hot from the oven. Let the remainder of the pie chill in the fridge, and keep eating it out of the fridge, since it’ll cut better when it’s cool... Between me having a piece, Arlene and Ben having a taste, and Mark having multiple pieces, we finished half the pie in one sitting though!