Lemon Meringue Pie

Charlotte: I remember one time I made this dessert for Nathanael. I was at his Auckland family home and he'd gone off to work. I then proceeded to accidentally lock myself out and completely fail at finding the spare key. Since he had to drive all the way home to let me in, I figured making his favourite dessert for dinner that night was the least I could do...

Ingredients

• 1 packet sweet short pastry (400g)
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups water
• juice and rind of 4 lemons
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 8 Tbsp cornflour

•  8 Tbsp castor sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Roll pastry out and line dish.

Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes.

Filling
Combine egg yolks, water, lemon juice and rind, sugar (not castor sugar!), butter and cornflour.

Either stir over boiling water, or microwave, until very thick.

When cold put in pastry shell and top with meringue.

Meringue
Beat egg whites until stiff, then add castor sugar a little at a time.

Finally, beat in vanilla.

Spread meringue over the edges of the pie to seal.

Cook at 180°C for around 10 to 15 minutes until browning, then turn off the oven and leave the pie in (keeping an eye on it to make sure it does not brown too much) as the oven cools.