the ultimate lemon meringue pie

🥘 Ingredients

• • flour
• • sugar
• • salt
• • unsalted butter
• • vegetable shortening
• • ice water
• • graham cracker crumbs
• • cornstarch
• • egg yolks
• • water
• • lemon zest
• • lemon juice
• • cream of tartar
• • egg whites
• • vanilla extract

📝 Instructions

1. 1 make pie shell: mix flour , sugar and salt in a food processor , by pulsing a few times
2. 2 scatter the frozen butter pieces over flour mixture
3. 3 pulse in 1-second pulses about 5 times to mix in butter
4. 4 add frozen shortening
5. 5 pulsing in 1-second pulses until mixture resembles cornmeal with pieces about the size of peas
6. 6 slowly add ice water through the processor feed tube , with motor running , one tbsp at a time
7. 7 when dough forms a ball , stop processing
8. 8 it should take about 2 or 3 tbsp of ice water to reach this stage
9. 9 shape dough into a ball in your flour coated hands , and then flatten into a 4 inch wide disk
10. 10 flour disk and wrap in plastic
11. 11 refrigerate at least 30 minutes
12. 12 generously coat your work surface or pastry sheet with a little flour and about 1 / 4 cup graham cracker crumbs
13. 13 place dough on floured surface , coat with some flour and graham cracker crumbs , and roll into a 9-inch disk
14. 14 lift , coat surface with more graham and flour , turn dough , add more graham and flour on top , and roll out to a 13 inch disk
15. 15 place into a 9 inch pie pan , and finish edges
16. 16 refrigerate crust until firm , about 30 minutes
17. 17 prick dough with a fork to prevent bubbling up in the oven
18. 18 while the oven is pre-heating to 375 , put pie crust in freezer
19. 19 bake at 375 for 20- 25 minutes , checking occasionally to make sure it's browning evenly and not bubbling up
20. 20 lemon filling: whisk sugar , cornstarch , and salt together in a large , nonreactive saucepan
21. 21 add egg yolks , then immediately but gradually whisk in 1 1 / 2 cups water
22. 22 bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat , whisking regularly , 8- 10 minutes , until thickened
23. 23 remove from heat , whisk in zest , then juice , and finally butter
24. 24 keep warm until meringue is made
25. 25 meringue topping: mix cornstarch and 1 / 3 cup water in a small saucepan
26. 26 bring to a simmer , whisking occasionally until thickened
27. 27 remove from heat when translucent and thickened
28. 28 preheat oven to 325
29. 29 in a large mixing bowl , mix cream of tartar and sugar together
30. 30 beat egg whites with whip attachment of mixer until frothy
31. 31 add vanilla
32. 32 beat in sugar mixture , 1 tbsp at a time
33. 33 then drop in cornstarch mixture , 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form
34. 34 pour warm lemon filling into pie crust
35. 35 distribute meringue evenly over the top , starting with the edges , and then the middle
36. 36 make sure it attaches to the crust
37. 37 lifting with the back of the spoon , create peaks in the meringue
38. 38 bake until golden brown , about 20 minutes
39. 39 cool completely before serving