Tasty Lemon meringue pie

The pie is made with shortcrust pastry, lemon custard and fluffy meringue.

Ingredients

• For test:
• Butter (chilled, cut into cubes) - 50 g
• Ice water - 2 tbsp. spoons
• Wheat flour - 100 g (2/3 cup)
• Sugar - 1 tbsp. a spoon
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
• Vanilla extract - 1/8 teaspoon
• For filling:
• Eggs - 5 pcs.
• Butter (chilled, cut into cubes) - 70 g
• Sugar - 3 cups
• Water - 1 glass
• Lemon juice - 3/4 cup
• Grated lemon zest - 2 teaspoons
• Cornstarch - 1/3 cup
• Salt - 1 pinch
• Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Directions

1. Prepare shortbread dough. To do this, mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the pieces of butter and grind with your hands until a crumbly mass is formed. Gradually add ice water and vanilla extract. Quickly knead a smooth dough and form into a ball. Cover the dough with cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Divide the eggs into yolks and whites.
3. Turn on the oven to preheat to 200-220 degrees.
4. For the filling, place 2 cups of sugar and starch in a medium saucepan. Add lemon zest, water and lemon juice. Mix. Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook the syrup, stirring, until it boils. Remove from stove.
5. Lightly beat the yolks with a whisk. Gradually add half of the prepared syrup to the yolks, stirring constantly.
6. Then pour the egg mass into a saucepan with the remaining syrup, mix well. Place the saucepan over medium heat and, stirring, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Remove from stove.
7. Add pieces of butter, mix. Cover the saucepan to keep the lemon curd warm.
8. Prepare the meringue. Egg whites for meringue should be at room temperature. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft foam. Then add vanilla extract and beat well again. Continuing to beat the whites, introduce sugar 1 tbsp. spoon (1 cup). Beat egg whites until stiff peaks.
9. Take the dough out of the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a round layer with a diameter of about 25 cm. Wind the dough onto the rolling pin (without stretching) and carefully lay it out in a round shape. Using your hands, flatten the dough over the entire surface, forming sides. Place the mold in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
10. Remove the form from the refrigerator, cover the dough with foil and fill with beans (so that the sand base does not change shape during baking) and put in a preheated oven. Bake the base of the pie for about 8 minutes at 220 degrees. Then remove the weight and foil and bake the cake base for another 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Leave the cake to cool in the mold on a wire rack.
11. Put the lemon cream on the cooled shortcrust pastry base, put the beaten proteins on it and spread over the surface, forming small peaks.
12. Place the lemon meringue pie in a preheated oven at 165 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes.
13. Cool the finished cake on a wire rack and then place in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. The lemon meringue tart can then be sliced ​​and served.