Lemon Verbena Meringue Pie

Try this tasty lemon verbena meringue pie recipe for a sweet dessert. Made with Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry and served with raspberry sauce.

Quick Stats

Moderate

12 Servings

55 minutes bake time

Lemon Verbena Meringue Pie

Try this tasty lemon verbena meringue pie recipe for a sweet dessert. Made with Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry and served with raspberry sauce.

Ingredients

500 g Jus-Rol™ shortcrust pastry
1 Bunch of Lemon Verbena
450 ml water
12 Lemons zest & juice
130 g cornflour
12 Egg Yolks
500 g Caster sugar
Meringue
4 Egg Whites
120 g Caster sugar
120 g icing sugar

Made With

Chilled Shortcrust Pastry Sheet

Easy to use ready rolled Jus-Rol Shortcrust Pastry Sheets are great for topping, wrapping or filling with your favourite ingredients.

Equipment required

Saucepan
Baking Beans
Baking Sheet

Techniques Used

How to Roll Shortcrust Pastry
How to Roll Shortcrust Pastry
1. For best results when rolling out shortcrust pastry use a large, clean dry area of the work surface and lightly dust it with plain flour.
2. Place pastry dough on surface and lightly dust it and the rolling pin with flour.
3. Roll pastry firmly, always rolling away from you, give the dough 2-3 rolls.
4. Then turn the dough a quarter turn.
5. Dust again if necessary and continue rolling out, frequently turning the pastry so it is not always rolled in the same direction as this causes shrinkage.
6. When the pastry has increased in size, pick it up to turn/ line the tin by rolling it round the rolling pin.
7. Lift the pin with the pastry around it carefully and turn it to lay out and continue rolling. Again this is done to prevent the pastry from stretching as you lift it which in turn would result in shrinkage in baking. Shortcrust pastry should be rolled out to approx. 3-5 mm. depth.
How to Blind Bake Pastry
How to Blind Bake Pastry
Once a flan tin or ring has been lined you may wish to bake it unfilled (baking blind), to then fill later with a cold filling or one which requires a lower cooking temperature. It is always best, if time allows, to chill the unbaked flan in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before baking blind.
- Take a large piece of silicone baking or greaseproof paper and pleat it so that you can fit it into the flan tin easily.
  
  Press paper gently into flan case and allow excess to stand up around edges.
  
  Cover base with baking beans or similar. It is possible to buy ceramic baking beans which are re-usable, otherwise use uncooked rice, split peas or similar to weight down the base.
  
  Bake the flan according to recipe instructions, generally the flan is baked for 12-15 minutes then the paper and beans removed and the flan returned to oven to finish baking to a golden brown.

Method

Roll out the Jus-Rol™ Shortcrust Pastry on a lightly floured surface until 1/2 cm thick.
Line 12 x 6 cm individual pastry cases then fill with parchment paper and baking beans.
Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove the parchment and beans and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Place half the lemon verbena in 450ml of water and bring to the boil.
Mix the zest, juice and cornflour together and pour into 450ml boiling water.
Stir until mixture has thickened then remove from heat.
Mix together the egg yolks and sugar and whisk into lemon mixture.
Return to the heat until thick then cool slightly before pouring into pastry cases.

Meringue:

Reduce oven temperature to 110°C.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Slowly add the sugar and icing sugar.
Once the whites are stiff and glossy place into a piping bag.
Pipe small mini meringues onto a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet.
Once cool place the mini meringues on the lemon curd pie and garnish with the remaining lemon verbena.

Optional Extras:

Sprinkle with a little icing sugar and serve with raspberry sauce