Its been a while, but so much has happened in the past few weeks.....mostly I was fighting of the dreaded cold and aches that comes with it.  

I had hoped to make a lemon pie of some sort a while ago, and kept buying the lemons, but used them for other things and not getting round to making a pie but on a cold, cold Saturday last weekend, I made Lemon Meringue Shortbread pies....they were delicious.

I didn't use the normal pastry for the bases, but used a shortbread recipe instead (bit of an experiment) which even though it was a little tricky to roll and line the tins with, it tasted fantastic in the pies.  Again I am going to link it to Pamela's Heavenly Treats, the blog to showcase Desserts!

Makes approx 18

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, 2 x muffin tins 

Shortbread

2 cups plain flour

1 cup salted butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Mix in the flour, then use your hands to make a smooth dough.  Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill for a minimum of 30 mins. 

To make the pies:

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and using a round circle cutter, cut out circles to line your muffin tins. (Preferably so the pastry is the depth of the cup for deep pies).  Place the tins in the refrigerator for approx 15 mins to chill the dough again.

Bake the pastry shells blind (use pastry weights/rice etc) for approx 8 mins until golden.  Remove the weights and bake for a further three to four mins.  Remove from the oven and leave in the tins.

To make the Lemon Curd

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup lemon juice (about 4 - 5 lemons)

2 tsp grated lemon zest

4 large eggs yolks (keep the whites for the meringue)

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup cornflour

2/3 cup cold water.

Place the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, egg yolks into a saucepan. Mix together then pour in the boiling water and then mix again thoroughly.  Mix together the cornflour and the cold water.  Place the saucepan over a medium heat, and stirring all the time.  Pour in the cornflour mix and continue to stir over the heat until the curd is thick.   Remove from the heat and pour immediately into the shortbread shells.  

Meringue

4 egg whites

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tablespoon corn flour

1/4 cup boiling water.

Whisk the egg whites in a grease free bowl until thick . (A good tester is if you tilt the bowl, the egg whites shouldn't move).  Gradually beat in the sugar to form a thick glossy meringue.  Mix the corn flour and boiling water together to make a gel.  Spoon into the meringue mixture and mix in thoroughly.

Spoon the Meringue into a piping bag and pipe the meringue over the curd, to cover it completely.  

Place the trays back into the oven for approx 5 mins to give the meringue a golden colour.  You may need to turn the trays and watch it carefully as the meringue can burn quickly.  

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the trays.  Best Eaten on the same day as the shortbread softens overnight, but still tastes just as good!