I love Lemon Meringue Pie. Each time I make it I could also eat up all the lemonyness leftover from making it with a spoon (and often do).

A question I often ask myself is why is everything better when it’s smaller? I love to make individual Bakewell Tarts:

Individual cakes have conquered the world:

So I then decided to make little individual Lemon Meringue Pies. Yum.

They’re really good for using up leftover eggs.

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Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe – taken from The Great British Book of Baking by Linda Collister (GBBO book one)

Ingredients:

Pastry:

175g plain flour

a good pinch of salt

1 tbsp caster sugar

115g unsalted butter

1 medium free range egg yolk, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water

Lemon filling:

3 medium unwaxed lemons

40g cornflour

300ml hot water

3 medium free range egg yolks

85g caster sugar

50g unsalted butter

Meringue topping:

4 medium free range egg whites

200g caster sugar

Method:

In a food processor, add the flour, salt and sugar and pulse to combine. then add the butter and process to fine crumbs. Then with the machine running, add the egg yolk and water mixture and process until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film and chill for 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut out circles to line a greased muffin tin:

Prick the bases with a fork and chill for 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ gas mark 4, then line with greaseproof paper and baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes, removing the paper and beans and further baking for 5 minutes.

Leave the oven on, and leave the cases to cool while the filling is made.

Grate the zest from the lemons into a heatproof bowl, then add the juice and cornflour and stir to make a smooth paste. Add the hot water and mix to combine, then empty into a pan and cook, stirring constantly until it boils and thickens, then simmer for a minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and add the yolks, then stirring in the butter and sugar.

Then pour this into the pastry cases, and start with the topping.

Whisk the egg whites until forming soft peaks, then add the sugar and whisk until it forms a glossy smooth meringue. Spoon this on top of the filling, enclosing all of the lemon in meringue.

Then bake this in the oven for 20 minutes until the meringue is a golden brown.

Done!

(note: when making individual pies, there is a lot of filling and topping, so double the pastry and make 24…. go on… you know you want to)

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Yum. Yum. YUM. I love Lemon Meringue Pie.

Oh and p.s. I also prepared hobnob mixes to take away with us:

Hobnobs in a bag!