Tuesday Treat

Lemon Angel Pie

This is the most delicious dessert ever!… Ok, I admit that I’ve said this before about numerous other desserts, but seriously you ‘must’ make this, it really is a little piece of heaven! It has the wonderful flavours of its better-known relation, ‘Lemon Meringue Pie’, but is much lighter as it has no pastry thus is also much easier to make, plus of course, it’s totally gluten-free. Be warned, it’s not the prettiest of desserts – you’ll be rather dismayed when minutes after removing the meringue base from the oven it starts to sink and crack, but fear not, once you add the lemon curd and cream you cover a lot of these undesirable looking cracks. The important thing is that it tastes incredibly good!…

(I’ve found that the size of the dish really does make a difference with this recipe, use a 9” round deep pie dish – I use one which is available from amazon here)

200g caster sugar

4 eggs, separated

¼ teaspoon white wine vinegar

Butter to grease dish

For the Filling:

100g caster sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Grated zest of 1 lemon

¼ teaspoon salt

500ml double cream

To Serve:

Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

(9” round, deep pie dish – buttered)

1. Beat the egg whites until white and fluffy. Add the sugar and white wine vinegar and beat until stiff and glossy.
2. Pour into a buttered pie dish, using the back of a spoon push the meringue up the sides of the dish so it looks a little like a pastry case and will hold the filling after it’s baked.
3. Bake in a preheated oven, 150’c, for 50 minutes until puffed and lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool – don’t be dismayed when the meringue sinks and starts to crack, the filling will cover the multitude of sins!
4. Meanwhile, make the lemon curd by placing the egg yolks in a bowl and beating lightly. Stir in the sugar, lemon juice, grated lemon zest and salt. Then put the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don’t allow the base of the bowl to touch the water) and continue to stir until thickened into a ‘curd’, this can take up to 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
5. Whip the cream until stiff.
6. Gently fold the lemon curd into half of the whipped cream, pour this lemon curd mixture into the meringue pie shell. Top the pie with the remaining whipped cream and sprinkle with the grated lemon zest.
7. Chill in the fridge before serving – serve cold.