Many years ago I remember trying to make a lemon meringue pie. It was a rather traumatic experience which resulted in a pie that was soupy and all kinds of wrong. It definitely put me off trying it again, but since lemons are in season I decided it was now or never – so I put my big girl panties on and gave it a go and you know what? It worked!
It will thicken I promise
The recipe on page 217 was so easy. You can either make your own sweet shortcrust pastry if you like or use shop bought if you prefer. No judgments here 🙂
While you are blind baking the pastry, you make the lemon filling. Be patient when making the filling; the mix does seem like it’s never going to thicken, but I assure you that it will go transparent, lovely and thick! It really will happen, just keep stirring. Once you have made the filling you pour it into the cooked pastry case and top with the meringue mixture. The meringue will not be a crispy meringue but will be a soft, fluffy, light style meringue.
The perfect amount of sweet and tangy
This dessert is beautiful. It has a definite citrus tang but is lovely and sweet. The fluffy meringue isn’t too sweet though so its not as sickly as it sounds. The pie presents beautifully and is definitely worth a shot. It is perfect for a special occasion or when you want to take something a bit more impressive when asked to “bring a plate.”
So the lemon meringue pie was a great success, but believe it or not one of my family doesn’t actually like lemony desserts. I know, crazy, right? So not wanting them to miss out on a nice dessert I chose to make an easy chocolate mousse (page 207) because who doesn’t like chocolate, right? This recipe is just as the name says easy. As in soooo easy. Its pretty much fool proof.
The mousse ends up being light and smooth and all kinds of delicious. Its chocolatey without being sickly and ticks all the right boxes for a nice dessert. You can add liqueur to this recipe for extra pizzazz but I thinks its pretty much perfect the way it is and I say that as someone who is (shock horror) not the biggest fan of chocolate hehe. You should add this recipe to the list of must tries. Its so simple that I think even a child could do it.
Until next time. Happy cooking 🙂