or scroll for handy tips and a little nostalgia.
This Lemon Meringue Slice is your favourite pie in slice form!
Two buttery biscuit layers, a tangy lemon filling and sweet meringue topping make up this absolutely divine slice.
The recipe is from the pages of Nana Ling’s handwritten recipe books, so it’s about 80 years old.
While it’s a little fiddly to put the layers together, the effort is certainly worth it when you skin your teeth into the results!
Layers of sweet, lemony goodness
This Lemon Meringue Slice consists of a biscuit layer, a lemon filling layer, another biscuit layer and then the meringue topping.
The ingredients you’ll need are:
- butter
- caster sugar
- eggs
- SR flour
- condensed milk
- lemons
- salt
- cream of tartar.
Scroll to the end of this post to find the recipe card which outlines the precise measurements for the ingredients.
Tips for working with the biscuit layers
The step-by step method is outlined in detail below. It’s fairly straightforward, apart from rolling out the biscuit layers – which can get a little fiddly.
I’ve included pictures in the recipe card below to help you handle the biscuit layers and put the slice together more smoothly.
If you’re still finding it difficult to work with these biscuit layers, I suggest dusting your working bench with a little more flour or popping the dough into the fridge for 15 minutes before handling it.
The original recipe
Keep scrolling for the tested and tweaked version in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Lemon Meringue Slice
Ingredients
Biscuit base and layer
- 50 grams butter
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups SR flour
- pinch salt
Lemon Filling
- 2/3 cup condensed milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1/2 lemon)
- 1 egg yolk
Meringue
- 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- pinch salt
- pinch cream of tartar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to moderate (180 degrees celsius, fan-forced).
- Grease a slice tin (approx 28 x 18cm) and line with baking paper, leaving paper overhanging at sides to assist with removal of slice later.
- Cream butter and sugar for biscuit base and layer.
- Whisk the egg lightly and add to the mixture. Mix well to combine.
- Fold in sifted flour and salt to form a pastry dough. Divide into two and set aside.
- Make the filling by combing all filling ingredients and whisking together.
- Make the meringue by beating egg white to form soft peaks and then gradually adding the sugar and beating to form stiff peaks. Fold the salt and cream of tartar into the meringue mixture.
- To put the slice together, first roll out half of the pastry dough on a work bench dusted with flour. Place in the bottom of the slice tin, using a bread knife to cut the layer to fit the tin and using your fingers to spread and even out the pastry.
- Pour lemon filling over the pastry layer.
- Roll out the second half of the pastry dough and cut to the shape of the tin. You can do this by placing the tin on top of the rolled out pastry and cutting to shape with a bread knife.
- Very carefully, roll half of the pastry onto a rolling pin and use a spatula to lift the remaining half of the pastry and place as the next layer in the slice tin.
- Spread the meringue over the top of the pastry layer and use a spoon to create little peaks in the meringue.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the tin and then lift out and cut into squares.
Doris
Saturday 28th of August 2021
Is this made with condensed milk or sweetened condensed milk?
Libby Hakim
Sunday 29th of August 2021
Hi Doris. It is sweetened condensed milk (which is generally referred to as just "condensed milk" in Australia I believe and unsweetened condensed milk is "evaporated milk"). Happy cooking!