Lemon Meringue Pie with Citrus Spiced Sugar Cookie Crust

We’re opening the windows wide and letting the love right in the kitchen today! 

We’re making another of my family’s favorite pies, brought to us by my favorite fellow baker Erin Jeanne McDowell. 

It’s been too many years since I’ve made a Lemon Meringue Pie and high time this classic recipe has a space on Joy the Baker.  Lemon Meringue Pie was my grandfather’s favorite pie. Homemade or store-bought – if Papa was coming over to celebrate, we needed to have a Lemon Meringue Pie. 

I have distinct memories of watching my dad’s homemade meringue weep, counting the minutes before we sliced into it. Why didn’t we have dessert first more often?  This pie is sweet and bright and just brings a kick to your dessert plate.  I know we’re all pumpkin and sweet potato this time of year, but wouldn’t a lemon moment feel like a nice surprise at Thanksgiving this year? 

And, added bonus!  We get to bust out the kitchen torch for this one!  Wait.. first let’s bust out that Bed, Bath, and Beyond 20% coupon and go buy more butane for the kitchen torch.  You know what it is! 

What follows are step-by-step photos of crust making, filling making, and meringue making. If those don’t serve you, just keep scrollin’ to the recipe. The photos will be here if you have any questions about what a step might look like while you’re in your own kitchen. 

This recipe comes from my dear friend Erin Jeanne’s new (and epic) pie book, The Book on Pie.  

It truly lives up it its title. This is THE BOOK.  Creams, custards, fruit pie, and EVERYTHING a beginning and experienced baker would want to know about various kinds of pie crusts.  Erin has been one of my baking inspirations for years.  Do you have her first book The Fearless Baker? Also a must-bake-from book in my kitchen.  

What I love most about this book is how playful and flexible it is.  Each filling recipe offers a handful of different crust and topping variations so you can have a choose your own baking adventure each time you want to make a pie.  

Today’s pie adventure is a pie I could eat every day of my life, the classic Lemon Meringue. Per Erin’s offering I’m making a Sugar Cookie Crust with extra lemon zest and fall spices.  

Let’s get backing, friends! 

We’ve got a few things we need to do here.  It’s a project, but plenty can be made ahead of time and I promise it’s worth the effort.  

First, we’ll make a sugar cookie pie crust.  

Second, we’ll make that tangy lemon curd filling. 

Third, and just before serving, we’ll make meringue, top our pie, and toast it.  

Take a good deep breath in and remember that WOW THIS IS FUN AND THERE’S PIE AT THE END.  

Let’s get after this Sugar Cookie Crust.  

You might recognize this method of the Pumpkin Tarte a la Bouille.  

This is a pie crust that uses room temperature butter, increases the sugar, calls for the addition of zest and spice, and contains an egg white and a dash of leavening.  

It’s a sugar cookie we’re rolling super thin and asking it to be a pie crust. It’s pretty simple, surely delicious. 

Once all of the dough ingredients are creamed together, this shaggy dough can be easily kneaded into a disk.  

We’ll chill the disk for at least 30 minutes before rolling.  

I don’t like to waste a moment, so while the crust chills, we’ll make the lemon curd filling.  

Guess what you’ll need for this lemon curd – a big bunch of lemons to juice! 

We’ll need just over a cup of fresh lemon juice. It makes all the difference in the world to squeeze it fresh. The bottled juice just doesn’t have the same kick. 

Separate 10 egg yolks from their whites (of course, reserve the whites for the meringue).  Whisk the yolks together and add to a saucepan along with sugar and sugar, and melted butter. 

Add the lemon juice to the saucepan along with a dash of salt.

It’s time to cook this lemon mixture to a hot, thick curd.  

I use both a spatula and whisk to cook the curd to thick. 

A spatula helps ensure that the bottom and sides of the pan don’t overcook the curd, and a whisk keeps the mixture smooth.  Alternate as the mixture thickens over the heat. 

The yolks will help thicken this mixture but the cornstarch will really kick the thickening into high gear once the mixture starts to boil.  You’ll see big, fat bubbles towards the center of the pan. That’s the ticket. Don’t stop whisking at this point! 

Transfer the thickened curd to a bowl to cool and cover with plastic wrap (so that the plastic touches the surface of the curd). 

I allow the curd to cool in the refrigerator but you can certainly transfer it directly to the pie crust if you bake in a different order than I do. 

Ready to roll out this pie crust? 

Ok since we have a sweet cookie-type dough, I find it easiest to work with if I roll the chilled crust between two pieces of parchment paper.  

Lift the paper up after a few strokes to even out any paper wrinkles. 

If you feel like you’re fighting the paper, remove the top piece, lightly flour the dough and keep rolling.  What’s nice about a cookie crust is that if it tears a bit, we can press it back together in the pan. 

Set the top layer of parchment paper aside, place the pie pan on top of the crust, take a deep breath and invert that baby! 

Peel the final layer of parchment paper away and pat yourself on the back. 

Trim , fold, crimp, decorate the edges in any way that feels festive to you. 

I trimmed the crust clean with the edge of the pan, re-rolled the scraps and cut out diamond shapes. 

I just a few swipes of extra egg white as glue to help adhere my diamond pie crust shapes to the edge. 

Dock the pie to help keep it from puffing dramatically and to help keep the pie from shrinking.  

Now listen… I find it really difficult to keep a pre or par baked pie crust from sinking.  My pie crust sunk more than I would have liked during my pre-bake but I think that’s because I should have weighed the dough with parchment and pie weights (though Erin’s thorough instructions say not to use weights).  

Weights or no, freeze the dough for 30 minutes before baking it to golden brown and cookie crisp. 

Let’s take stock. 

Our lemon curd is tangy and chilled. Check.

Our pie crust is golden crisp and cooled. Check. 

Now it’s time to make our meringue just before we serve this beauty. 

We’ll use a portion of the reserved egg whites to create this meringue.  

It’s a cooked meringue so combine ingredients in a heat-proof bowl – the top of our double boiler.  

Egg whites, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and a splash of vanilla extract.  

Whisk together, fairly constantly, over a bowl of simmering water. 

We want to heat the mixture to 160 degrees F. Heating them from raw to safe to eat. 

With all of your our whisking efforts, the egg mixture will seem fairly thick, foamy, almost syrupy.  

Transfer the heated egg mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment for 5 quality minutes of high speed whipping.  

To these gorgeous glossy peaks! 

You’ll want the tip to hold shape and feel glossy smooth! 

Here’s where all our work comes together. 

Fill the cooled pie with chilled lemon filling.  

We have a few options with the meringue. We can dollop it atop the lemon filling and use an offset spatula to swoop it around before toasting. 

Or we can fill piping bags (fitted with small and large star tips) with our meringue to pipe into stars on top of the pie.  

Any way you top it, this pie is going to be delicious! 

Toast to your heart’s desire. 

This pie is a real treat.  The crust is crisp with hints of lemon and such warmth from the ginger and cloves. The filling makes you feel wide eyed.  The meringue is a toasty soft.

It’s all just a wonder. Thank you Erin for bringing inspiring such fun and such good memories in my kitchen. Love you, Queen! 

Photos with Sarah Becker. 

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