The Best Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie

Say hello to my favorite pie of all time– The Best Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie. This is not an ordinary meringue topping either! I’ve added marshmallow fluff for the creamiest, dreamiest meringue ever! The lemon filling has the perfect balance of tart and sweet and the pie crust is buttery and so flaky and tender. You will love this pie!

This luscious Lemon Meringue Pie is the perfect way for me to come back to my blog and tell you that if you love Lemon Meringue Pie as much as I do– you must make this! 

 

Yes, I am back from my food blogging hiatus!  I’m glad to be back, and I hope that many of you have stuck around by subscribing to my feed or following me on my Facebook Fan Page. I just had to take a break from social media for a while. I wanted to take the pressure of myself worrying about stats on how many comments or hits this blog of mine receives.  I wanted to come back to food blogging for the joy of it, because I haven’t lost my desire to cook and bake new recipes. So, I’m back feeling refreshed with a few recipes I’ll be sharing with you.

There’s a mini-story behind this pie, that has a secret little ingredient that takes this to a new level, Yes, folks, I’m about to blow that secret right out of the water!  The story begins at a restaurant where we live.  My husband and I decided to split a slice of the lemon creme pie that was the special of the day.  The meringue was velvety smooth.  It was not like any classic meringue pie I’ve ever had, and I was smitten.  The only downer was the crust. It was tough and I just scraped out the pie and its topping. I had to figure out what was in that meringue and I had to make this pie for myself– with a good pie crust! I went back to that restaurant for a second time, and paid the $8.00 for a sliver of that pie.  The pie crust still wasn’t good, but I finally realized what made that meringue so addicting!

Marshmallow Cream!  That had to be the secret! I scoured the internet for a recipe that could be a Copy Cat but came up empty. One day, King Arthur Flour sent me an email with their recipe for  their Mile-High Meringue Pie.  Yes!!! This was it! It was perfect timing that our Eureka lemon tree was very generous with us, as my husband brought in a bucket of lemons. It’s showtime!

First things, first. I made their Classic Single Pie Crust that uses a combination of shortening and butter.  I changed their technique by using my food processor and some gentle hands, being very careful to not overwork the pie dough.  (I’m pretty sure this is why the pie crust at that restaurant was so tough.)  I made this pie crust the night before, because there are a few steps to making this pie– and please trust me when I say it is so worth it!

Let’s make the lemon curd filling!  This filling recipe was very easy to make because you are using whole eggs. HOWEVER, this is an ingredient you might not have in your pantry.  I always keep this in my own pantry, because Instant ClearJel is a fantastic thickener for pie fillings (and gravy and many other uses).  I prefer this over cornstarch (or tapioca) because it doesn’t “cloud” my pie fillings. I’ll never go back! If you don’t want to use this ingredient you can substitute cornstarch.  To make the filling you’ll need sugar, eggs, butter, lemon juice and lime juice. Yes, lime juice! Now, this is optional, but since I happened to have limes I decided to trust King Arthur Flour.

The filling thickened up beautifully. I poured it into the cooled pie shell and covered it with plastic wrap, gently pressing it onto the filling– so it wouldn’t form a skin. (KAF suggested rubbing some butter over the filling but I skipped that with no problems.)  Now, for the meringue…

I had forgotten that I had an unopened container of Meringue Powder so I used it for the first time.
Folks, this stuff is magical! I didn’t have to separate eggs and the meringue turned out beautifully! I added one container of marshmallow cream and look at that!  This meringue is exactly what I had hoped it would be.

So, now the fun begins.  There’s plenty of meringue, with this recipe, and I generously slathered it on top of the filling.

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Mile-High Meringue Pie

I’ve made many Lemon Meringue Pie recipes, but this King Arthur Flour recipe ranks at the top of the list. NOTE: I did use KAF ClearJel for the filling and KAF Meringue Powder for the topping. The filling was perfectly set, and the addition of lime juice really made the lemon flavor pop– just the right amount of tartness. The topping is the crowning glory. Billowy and just the right amount of sweet, marshmallow fluff is the not-so-secret ingredient. This is much better than tradition egg white meringue

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Minimum Pie chilling time8 hours hrs

Total Time9 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Lemon Meringue Pie, Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie

Servings: 10

Calories: 471kcal

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Equipment

• 1 9" pie pan
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 1 9" Pie crust your favorite recipe or store bought or recipe below

PIE CRUST (recommended recipe is King Artur Flour Single Classic Pie Crust :

• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons shortening
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

FILLING:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup Instant ClearJel or cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup lime juice optional (don’t skip this part!)
• 3/8 cup 6 tablespoons butter

MERINGUE:

• 3 tablespoons meringue powder or three egg whites
• 1/2 cup water optional, if not using egg whites
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup Baker’s Special Sugar I "buzzed" granulated sugar in my Vitamix blender, and that worked fine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup Marshmallow Fluff

Instructions

Pie crust:

• Whisk together the flour and salt.
• Add the shortening, working it in until the mixture is evenly crumbly.
• Add the butter to the flour mixture, and work it in roughly with your fingers, a pastry cutter, or a mixer. Don’t be too thorough; the mixture should be very uneven, with big chunks of butter in among the smaller ones.
• Add 2 tablespoons of water, and toss to combine. Toss with enough additional water to make a chunky mixture. It should barely hold together when you squeeze a handful, though the remainder may look quite dry.
• Scoop the mixture out onto a piece of parchment or waxed paper, and flatten it out a bit. Take a spray bottle of water, and spritz the dry parts with the water.
• Using the parchment or waxed paper, fold the dough over on itself — first from one side, then from the other. You’ll find that the dry crumbs are becoming incorporated with the cohesive dough. If there are still dry areas, spritz them with additional water, and fold the dough in on itself again. Keep folding and gathering until just a few dry crumbs remain unincorporated; this should only take a few folds. For a visual demonstration of this technique, see Pie, Any Way You Slice It.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Instead of doing the spray bottle thing (too much hassle, as I've tried it before) I used my food processor by adding the shortening and pulsing until crumbly. I then added the butter (cut into small chunks) and the ice water and pulse a few times until the dough was "shaggy". I dumped the dough onto plastic wrap and molded into a round disk and refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.
• When you’re “ready to roll,” remove the dough from the fridge. If the dough has been refrigerated longer than 30 minutes, let it rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling, to allow the butter to soften up a bit.
• Roll the dough to the size needed (about 12″ for a 9″ pie). Place it in a pie pan, and refrigerate it while you prepare your filling. Fill and bake as directed in your recipe.

Blind bake the pie crust:

• To bake an unfilled pie crust, preheat the oven to 400°F. Line the chilled crust with foil or parchment paper, and fill it with pie weights or dried beans.

  Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and gently remove foil or parchment with the weights or beans.

  Return the crust to the oven for 10 to 20 more minutes, until it's golden brown all over. If the edges of the crust start becoming too brown, cover them with a pie shield, or strips of aluminum foil. Remove the crust from the oven and cool completely before adding the filling.

To make the filling:

• Mix the sugar, Instant ClearJel (or cornstarch), and salt together in a saucepan.
• Add the eggs and whisk well, then whisk in the juice.
• Heat the mixture over medium heat until it’s very hot; it may come to a boil, or it may just “seethe” a bit, like it’s trying to boil and not quite making it. Let it boil or seethe for 30 seconds.
• Stir in the butter, stirring until it melts, then pour the mixture into the baked pie shell.
• Rub a piece of butter over the surface to prevent a skin from forming. NOTE: (I didn't find this necessary. I gently pressed plastic wrap over the filling). Cover with plastic wrap, and chill for several hours before topping with the meringue.

To make the meringue:

• Preheat your oven to 375°F with the oven rack in the lowest position.
• Whisk the meringue powder and water together (or egg whites), then beat until foamy.
• Add the salt, sugar and vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until the meringue is thick and shiny.
• Beat in the marshmallow.

To finish the pie:

• Remove the pie from the refrigerator.
• Top it with the meringue, using a spatula to form peaks.
• Bake the pie for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the meringue has browned.
• Remove it from the oven, cool it, and refrigerate until serving, for at least 8 hours. Otherwise, the meringue won't set and it will be a bit runny (written from personal experience).
• Store the pie, loosely covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Notes

Recipe source: Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour.com

Nutrition

Calories: 471kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 115mg | Sodium: 327mg | Potassium: 88mg | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 505IU | Vitamin C: 13.6mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1.3mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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