Imagine a crispy and melty crust filled with smooth home-made lemon curd full of flavor, and topped with a sweet meringue.
By Hervé Palmieri
There are so many lemon pies available here and there, but only one that will make you famous at the next picnic you attend! Imagine a crispy and melty crust filled with smooth home-made lemon curd full of flavor, and topped with a sweet meringue… you will love it ! 
First of all, let’s make a typical crust, we call it “pâte sablée” here because it melts in the mouth like sand in the hand. Then we’ll take care of the lemon curd, strongly flavored with natural lemon zest and juice, a bit acidulated, but this is balanced in the mouth with the sweet meringue topping. Have fun and enjoy !
French Lemon Pie – Tarte aux Citrons
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
Imagine a crispy and melty crust filled with smooth home-made lemon curd full of flavor, and topped with a sweet meringue.
Ingredients
Crust
- 250 g flour
- 150 g butter or shortening
- 50 g sugar
- 50 g iced sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
Lemon curd
- 150 ml lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 150 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or flour
- 75 g butter or shortening
Meringue
- 2 egg whites
- 75 g sugar
Instructions
Crust
- Beat eggs with the 2 sugars and salt
- Add the flour, knead with your fingertips
- Add the soft butter into pieces, knead quickly and form a ball
- Film and chill at least 1 hour
- Spread in pie plate, cover with a sheet of parchment paper and beans, balls of clay or a chain of metallic beads available in supermarkets
- Bake 10 minutes at 180 ° C, then remove the “weight” and give 8-10 minutes to cook the center. The dough should be golden (if not continue cooking for a few minutes)
Lemon curd
- Remove the zest of one lemon
- Bring to boil the lemon juice with zest
- Beat eggs with sugar and cornstarch
- Gradually add the lemon juice while beating
- Put everything on medium heat and thicken,
- stirring well all the time you will get a cream.
- Let cool and then add the soft butter into pieces, whisking well.
- Garnish the baked pie shell. Set aside in the fridge.
Meringue topping
- Whisk the egg whites until they become firm, add sugar and whisk for a few seconds.
- Garnish top of pie with a pastry bag and caramelize the meringue with a blowtorch.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: French
looks lovely!
Your pie looks almost too good to eat!
Beautifully done!
1 cornstarch or flour? 1 what?
My goodness, what perfect meringue!
My mom used to make a layered dsseert with jello and whipped cream. Definitely not as complicated and tasty as your shooter, but since my childhood, I have always adored layered dsseerts because of my fond jello and whipped cream memories. Thansk for the stroll down memory lane and your recipe is gorgeous and I bet it tastes great!
Looks absolutely lovely but I’m not sure about its French provenance. It’s a lemon meringue pie, right? A pie that – contrary to popular belief – is not really American either. It’s most likely an English dish, based on a Chester Pudding, a (Victorian, I think) speciality from the county town of Chester. The principal difference being that, in the original, I don’t think the meringue was cooked. I suppose it would make sense as Chester is very close to the the jumping-off point of Liverpool. Lemon curd as well – a very traditional british ‘preserve’ too. Maybe it’s not really important but it’s nice to level the playing field once in a while.
Do you have an American version of this recipe ? We don’t ice sugar or use grams or centigrade .
Please Americanize . Thank you