Lemon meringue pie

Delicate, delicious meringue pie, or rather, even a cake, looks very attractive.

Ingredients

• Shortbread dough (ready-made) - 1 sheet
• Milk - 1 glass
• Fine sugar - 1 cup
• Corn flour - ¼ cup
• Milk - ½ cup
• Butter - 80 g
• Lemon juice - 2/3 cup
• Lemon zest, grated - 2 tbsp. l.
• Egg yolks - 6 pcs.
• Egg whites, very fresh (4 pcs.) - 150 ml
• Fine sugar (powdered sugar) - 1 cup
• Vinegar (or lemon juice) - 1 tsp

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Pour the dough into a greased 22 cm baking dish (cut the edges). Prick the dough with a fork, cover with parchment and place a weight on top (such as dry beans or a special weight for baking). Bake for 15 minutes, remove the weights and paper and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
2. Combine sugar and milk in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat to dissolve sugar. Separately mix cornmeal with milk. Combine two milk mixtures. Stir until smooth. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Add butter. Stir to melt butter. Add lemon juice, zest and egg yolks. Cook over low heat, whisking the mass for 5 minutes, until thickened. Put the cream on a sand base and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. Beat egg whites until thick white foam. Continue beating while gradually adding the sugar and vinegar (or lemon juice). The mass should be dense, smooth and shiny. Spread the meringue over the cream. Bake the meringue pie in the oven under a preheated grill for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
4. The subtleties of meringue preparation: Eggs must be very fresh - it is easier to separate the proteins from the yolks, and they must be separated very carefully so that not a single particle of the yolk gets into it. Dishes should be perfectly clean (preferably glassware) - not a drop of water, not a drop of fat. Whisk egg whites first without sugar. Then, add sugar in small portions, sprinkling in a thin stream. You can bake the meringue at a high temperature so that it remains soft. But dry and fragile meringue is baked at a temperature of 100 degrees for 1-2 hours and cools in the oven.