Citrus & Raspberry Meringue Pie

Whenever I need to get out of the house or kill some time I head to the supermarket. Supermarkets make me happy. I think its because I can justify spending money in a supermarket - as you have to buy food don’t you? I don’t need the gorgeous dress but I need food.

A few months back I was in the supermarket killing time as I do, flicking through a Magazine when I came across a pie cooking competition. I decided I would enter, as the 3 finalists got to fly to Sydney for a pie cook off (and I do need a holiday.) The winner took home $10,000 dollars, which would have been lots of fun supermarket shopping for me ;-). Sadly I didn’t win, I never even heard anything back!!  At least it gave me an excuse to cook a pie, and I’ll take any excuse to bake. As part of the entry you had to photograph it and write about why this pie should win.

 Anyway I thought I would share with you the pie I decided to enter. So here it is my Raspberry, lemon and lime curd pie....

Citrus & Raspberry Meringue Pie

Pastry

150g butter

250g plain flour

100g white sugar

1 egg

Filling

4 egg yolks

125g white sugar

2 tablespoons cornflour

½ cup of freshly squeezed lime juice

½ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

500g of frozen raspberries

Meringue

4 egg whites

150g white sugar

1 teaspoon cornflour

Pre heat oven to 180C

To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, then stir through the sugar. Combine the egg with your hands until a dough forms. Place in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

Remove from the fridge and roll the pastry out until about 3mm thick then cut into 12cm rounds. Place in 10cm pie tins and blind back for 10mins. Remove the beans and bake for a further 10mins or until slightly golden.

To make the filling, place the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and citrus juices into a saucepan. Stir continuously on a medium heat until the mixture thickens then remove from the heat.

To make the meringue, place the egg whites into a clean dry bowl and using an electric beater whisk until soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and cornflour and whisk until stiff.

To assemble the pies, place the raspberries into the bottom of the pastry cases and then spoon the filling over the top of the raspberries. Place the meringue mixture into a pipping bag and pipe over the top.

Place the pies into the oven and turn the temperature down to 100C and bake the pies for 25mins or until cooked.

Makes 8