Unlike other recipes on the blog, this lemon pie requires a bit of precision and time and you will need a thermometer to get it spot. But trust me, it is worth it! The filling is based on a recipe by Heston Blumenthal (hence the precision bit) from his book Heston Blumenthal at Home and it is glorious! Beautifully balancing sweetness and sharpness on a nice crunchy base, this pie is a wonderful closing course of any dinner party. Serve it with some vanilla ice cream or (my favourite) dulce de leche ice cream (recipe coming soon).
Ingredients
Difficulty
For 6-8 persons
Sweet pastry
- 190 gr plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 120 gr chilled unsalted butter, cubed
- 90 gr icing sugar
- A pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 vanilla pod
- Zest of one lemon
Lemon custard filling
- Zest and juice of 4 lemons
- 200 ml cream
- 260 gr caster sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
Directions
- Make the sweet pastry: in a food processor mix the flour, butter and salt until the mixture looks like crumbs. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and lemon zest and finally add the egg. Mix until you get a smooth dough.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and shape it into a ball; flatten it with your hands into a disc, wrap it in cling film and chill for 3 hours.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface into a large round, about 3 mm thick. Line a 25 cm loose-based tart tin with the pastry, leaving the excess pastry hanging from the edge. Prick the base with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.
- Heat your oven to 180°C. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and baking beans. Blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans and bake for a further 10 minutes. Leave aside to completely cool.
- Heat the oven to 120°C. Place the pastry case back in the oven to heat it up.
- Put all the ingredients of the filling in a bowl, mix well and set above a pan with hot simmering water. Heat the mixture up to 62°C. Strain the mixture in a pitcher and remove the air bubbles on the top.
- Gently pour the mixture in the pastry case and fill it to just below the edge. Bake the pie about 25-30 minutes or until the filling in 70°C. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
- Grab a slice and enjoy it with some vanilla or dulce de leche ice cream.
Too much filling? Pour the rest in small ramekins and bake them au-bain-marie in the oven at 120°C (pour water into your oven tray until the ramekins are half submerged) and serve them with shortbread cookies.
