Friday, May 16, 2014

Royale Lemon Meringue

Royale Lemon Meringue
Recipe of Pam Hilton
Serves 8

4 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons cornstarch
dash salt
1 cup water
grated peel of lemon
1/3 cup lemon juice
3/4 pint (1 1/2 cups) heavy cream

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Line a 9 inch pie plate with foil; generously oil foil. Beat egg whites in a large bowl with the mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in cream of tartar and 1 cup sugar, a little at a time. Beat until stiff glossy peaks form. Spread beaten egg white over bottom and up sides of pie plate so that bottom is 1/4 inch thick and sides are 1 inch thick. Bake 1 hour , then reduce oven to 200 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until dry and firm. turn off oven, leave shell in oven to cool. Meanwhile, combine gelatin, cornstarch, salt, and remaining sugar in small saucepan. Stir in water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture into yolks while stirring to blend well. Stir yolk mixture into remaining gelatin mixture in saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened and just comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in half of the lemon peel and all of the juice. cover surface with plastic wrap; refrigerate until mixture mounds, about 1 hour. Beat cream on bowl until stiff peaks form. Remove about 1/2 cup for garnish. Fold lemon mixture into remaining whipped cream. Carefully peel foil from meringue shell and return to pie plate. Fill shell with lemon mixture; top with remaining whipped cream (sweeten slightly if desired, and sprinkle with reserved grated lemon peel. Refrigerate until serving time. Garnish with lemon slices and mint sprigs if desired.

 
I had high expectations since this recipe is from Pam Hilton, the queen of pie-making. It was good, but not what I expected. It is very light. I admit I didn't make it perfectly. I don't know if I cooked the meringue crust long enough. I refrigerated the filling too long, and I didn't stir it up before I tried mixing in the whipped cream, so it didn't mix well. I used regular granulated sugar instead of superfine (caster) sugar, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Mom and I both liked the filling a lot. I would like to make it again in a regular crust, and maybe put meringue on the top. We also discussed whether it would be better to zest the lemon since the grated peel turned into little chewy pieces in the filling. Overall good, but not unbelievably good.




1 comment:

  1. I've always wondered about meringue recipes like this, but have never felt brave enough to try them. It sounds good!

    And, I promise I have several cupboard recipes to put up on here as soon as I stop being super lazy and get the real computer down one evening after Russell is in bed and I 'm not being constantly interrupted by his fingers all over the keyboard and screen and the power button and him trying to 'plug' it in and closing the screen.

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