Condensed Milk Lemon Meringue Pie was originally and excuse to try a new pastry crust recipe. Since then it's become a family favorite. The condensed milk make the lemon filling less egg-y tasting.
Original Post
Pie season is here, so I’ve been testing recipes for pastry dough trying to determine which one is really my favorite. There are so many variations on pie crust that it's been hard to stick with just one, but my trials led me to a recipe which I think will be the new mainstay. They also led me to this super easy lemon meringue pie recipe.
Condensed Milk Lemon Meringue Pie
Made with lemon juice, condensed milk and egg yolks, this is more like a lemon version of Key lime pie than a typical lemon meringue, but it is very good and I'll definitely be making it again. But back to the crust. My new favorite is Ruth's Grandma's Pie Crust from allrecipes.com. It's very similar to the original Crisco recipe, but a little easier to roll thanks to the egg and slightly darker due to the sugar. For the shortening, I used a mixture of plain and butter flavored.
Recipe
Magic Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9 inch baked pie crust pastry or graham cracker
Filling
- 1 14 oz can of condensed milk
- 3 large egg yolks
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
Meringue
- 4 large egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix the condensed milk, egg yolks and lemon juice together in a bowl and pour into the pie crust.
- With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and cornstarch and beat until peaks are stiff. Beat in the vanilla.
- Spoon meringue over the pie filling and bake at 325 degrees F. for about 25 minutes or until meringue is lightly browned. Let the pie cool at room temperature for about an hour, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill for several hours.
Sue says
Your comment about less weeping and a different refrigerator is intriguing. Do you store your eggs in the carton or in an egg keeper? My refrigerator came with a separate egg keeper but I don't use it because it takes up more space than the carton. I wonder if that makes a difference? My refrigerator is also fifteen years old. I find these little details of baking fascinating.
Anna says
Hi Stephanie, I have one that uses cake flour and an egg yolk, too. It's from Greg Patent. I love that recipe because it tastes great and is fairly easy to work with. The problem I found when I re-tested it was that it shrank quite a bit when I blind baked it. The cream cheese crust that I made today for another lemon pie also shrank when blind baked even though I followed all the steps for "non-shrinkage" such as chilling, using pie weights, etc. So I have to give Grandma Ruth's crust points for not shrinking.
stephanie says
I will have to try this and compare! I use one with cake flour an a egg yolk. I believe it was Kittencal's on food.com.
Anna says
Cindy, ditto what Adam said. Also, the pie is baked at 325 degrees F so I'm guessing the internal temperature hits 165 after 25 minutes in a 325 degree oven. Anyone worried about it should use Safe Eggs, which are pasteurized. I'm actually using them today in royal icing.
Adam, this one is right in the middle, but you can add a teaspoon or two of lemon zest if you want.
Adam says
@Cindy -- only 1 in 20,000 eggs might contain salmonella, so it's highly unlikely to get sick from raw eggs. However, salmonella is killed at 165F, but more importantly the sugar in the condensed milk when mixed with the egg yolks denatures the egg and destroys the ability for salmonella to survive. This is the same process that occurs when heat comes in contact with the yolk.
@Anna - Is this on the tart side of lemon meringue or the sweet side? My current recipe is a slight adaption of one of yours, and it's definitely more tart (which I love :)).
Anna says
Sue, I've gone through a gazillion meringue recipes and the one I keep going back to is the one in the recipe (4 eggs, 1/4 cup cream of tartar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and a dash of vanilla). It's the one used in the Fool-Proof Lemon Meringue Pie recipe, and I love it because it's so reliable. The vanilla is a recent addition.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2010/07/fool-proof-lemon-meringue-pie/
Remember when I was having terrible problems with weeping meringues? Apparently the problem had something to do with my old refrigerator because since I moved, I've never had that problem....maybe a bead here or there, but nothing like before.
I'm actually making another lemon meringue pie this afternoon and will post it this week. Even though I loved this crust, I felt compelled to re-try a cream cheese crust recipe.
Sue says
I will give that crust a try the next time I need to make pie. I've never put an egg in pie crust. There is no doubt I would love the filling. Which meringue recipe did you use? It looks like it turned out just right.
CindyD says
Is that a long enough baking time for the eggs to be safe? My husband is paranoid about eating raw egg!!