When life gives you lemons, make a lemon meringue pie.

You may already know about the brand I Love Food Co. – they make the scrumptious I Love Pies (my favourite being the Free Range Butter Chicken) and sausage rolls, plus the I Love Baking Cookies – love the Peanut Butter Choc Chunk ones! 

All of their pies and sausage rolls are made with their homemade light and delicate sour cream pastry, which uses sour cream and New Zealand butter – no palm oil in sight! And, after the demand for it by consumers, supermarkets and gourmet food stores are now stocking their delicious pastry around the country. Check out their stockists here. 

I was recently sent some of I Love Food Co.’s Sour Cream Pastry, plus their gluten free version. Having never used gluten free pastry before, I wanted to try it out! And, having never ever made a Lemon Meringue Pie, I thought I would do that too!

This Lemon Meringue Pie was super fun to make, and tasted heavenly. Adapted slightly from this recipe here. 

Gluten Free Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

• 300g I Love Co. Gluten Free Sour Cream Pastry (or pastry of your choice)
• 4 large lemons, zest and juice
• 6 egg yolks
• 7 tablespoons cornflour (plus extra for pastry)
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g butter, melted (plus extra for greasing pie dish/tin)
• 6 egg whites
• 300g caster sugar

What You Need:

• Pie Dish or Tin
• Baking Beans
• Greaseproof Paper
• Rolling Pin
• Scales
• Lemon Juicer
• Small Pot and Whisk
• Your favourite Mixer (I love KitchenAid) or Beaters and Large Bowl
• Piping Bags (if you want to pipe the meringue)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C fan bake and grease your favourite pie dish/tin.

Sprinkle cornflour over your board, and roll out the pastry until it is big enough to generously fit the pie dish/tin – do not trim at this stage.  

Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Now trim the excess pastry using a sharp knife. Bake the pastry case blind for about 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is pale golden and dried out – remove the paper and beans for the last five minutes. Lower the oven heat to 150C.

To Make the Lemon Curd:

Mix together the sugar, cornflour and enough water to make a paste, in a large bowl.

Bring 50ml water and the lemon zest to the boil in a small pan. Gradually pour the hot liquid onto the cornflour and sugar, whisking all the time until smooth.

Beat in the egg yolks, lemon juice and butter. Return to the pan. 

Cook over a low heat, stirring all the time, until thickened. Pour into the baked blind pastry case and leave to cool slightly.

Making the Meringue: 

Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric whisk until they form stiff peaks. Whisk in the caster sugar, a spoonful at a time, whisking well and at a high speed between each addition.

Transfer the meringue into a piping bag and pipe the meringue on top of the lemon curd.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes until the meringue is crisp on the outside and soft and marshmallow-like underneath.

Serve warm or cold in slices, with Greek yoghurt or vanilla bean ice cream. 

Enjoy!