Lemon Meringue Pie

A Lemon Meringue Pie that’s quite literally easy as pie!

This retro recipe gives you that brilliant combo of tangy lemon, sweet meringue and a buttery base in far less time than you’d expect.

The Recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie

This Lemon Meringue recipe has been in my collection for a while.

But it was in someone else’s collection a long, long while before that.

Someone ripped it out of a New Idea magazine published in March 1976. Which makes the page just a tiny bit older than me.

The recipe is part of the content marketing efforts of Nestle, who are promoting their condensed milk product here.

It’d been around for a while already in 1976. George and Charles Page were “American brothers and Nestlé forefathers who built Europe’s first condensed milk factory in 1866.”

This popular product is still one of our favourites today, and in this recipe it’s used as an ingredient to add a quick and easy lemon meringue pie filling to this delicious dessert.

There’s also another shortcut in this recipe that helps to deliver a tasty lemon meringue pie in record time!

(Hint: the base doesn’t involve making pastry!)

Ingredients for Lemon Meringue Pie

To make this easiest (and yummiest) ever pie, you’ll need just 6 ingredients:

• plain biscuits (Milk Coffee, Marie Biscuits, Graham Crackers or similar)
• butter
• condensed milk
• lemons (2 or 3)
• 3 eggs
• caster sugar (superfine sugar).

All ingredient quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

You’ll also need an 8 inch (approx) pie dish.

Making Condensed Milk Lemon Meringue Pie

This is one of the easiest lemon meringue pie recipes around.

As the original recipe says:

“Luscious and Lemony.

Easy as Pie.

And Nestle’s Condensed Milk’s

The reason why.”

You really only need to set aside about 15 minutes to get the pie ready for the oven and then 15 minutes cooking time.

However, keep in mind that the pie needs to be in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.

Prepping

Pre-heat the oven to moderate (180 degrees celsius/355 degrees fahrenheit).

Grease your pie tin well with softened butter and line with baking paper.

Making the base

Crush the biscuits using a food processor or chopper to a fine crumb (or a rolling pin if you want to go old school).

Combine the biscuit crumbs and melted butter in a mixing bowl.

Press the biscuit mixture firmly into the greased pie tin – coating bottom and sides – and place into the fridge to chill.

Making the lemon filling

Separate the egg whites into one bowl and the yolks into another – you’ll need the yolks here and the whites for the meringue topping.

In another bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon rind and egg yolks until combined and smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the chilled biscuit crumb crust.

Making the meringue topping

Beat the egg whites until stiff.

Gradually add sugar, beating after each addition, to create a meringue.

Spoon meringue onto top of pie, ensuring it completely covers the condensed milk mixture.

TIP 1: Use the spoon to create peaks on the top of the meringue.

TIP 2: I love my KitchenAid 7-speed cordless hand mixer to whip up those whites with minimum fuss!

Baking

Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Setting time

Allow to cool to room temperature and then place into fridge to set for at least 4 hours before serving.

Serving Lemon Meringue Pie

Here are some tips to make sure your Lemon Meringue Pie is at it’s best when it comes time to serve it:

• Store it in the fridge once it’s reached room temperature. (It should be discarded if left out for more than 2 hours at room temperature.)
• It’s best served the day it’s made.
• This pie is best served cold.
• It can usually still be eaten for up to a few days, but it will likely start weeping and not be as presentable.
• Your pie is fine uncovered in the fridge for up to 6 hours, but if it’s going to be in the fridge longer consider loosely covering with plastic food wrap (place two toothpicks in the pie to protect the meringue).
• Don’t attempt to freeze, it’s not suitable for freezing.

A slice of Lemon Meringue Pie on its own is great, or you could serve with cream or ice cream.

Other lemon-y recipes you might enjoy

If you’ve got more lemons to use up, why not try:

• Lemon Delicious
• Lemon Muffins
• Lemon Meringue Slice
• Lemon Jam
• Lemon Slice
• Lemon Cake
• Lemon and Mint Cordial
• Lemon Meringue Tart.