Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon meringue pie is a relatively simple and very colorful dessert, ideal for meetings at work, with family, or with friends. In addition, it's easy to change the ingredients to adapt it to your nutritional needs.

Pie is a traditional dessert in Anglo-Saxon cuisine. It’s usually made in two different ways: filling a previously cooked dough with an egg-based cream or putting the filling between two sheets of dough. Do you know how to make a lemon meringue pie?

In this article, we’ll explain how to make a lemon meringue pie using the first method we described. In addition, we’ll make the relevant substitutions so that the dessert is suitable for celiacs and lactose-intolerant people.

Differences between a tart and a pie

They may seem similar, but they refer to two different types of dessert. The main differences are as follows:

1. Tart

• This is made with shortcrust pastry, dough with sugar, or shortcrust pastry with butter
• The crust usually serves as a support for a multi-layered filling
• You can precook the crust and then mix it with the filling

2. Pie

• These normally use simpler dough with fewer ingredients
• The dough can be only on the base or also on the surface covering the filling
• The crust doesn’t usually have sugar and usually has a large amount of butter, although you can change this for lighter versions

Lemon meringue pie recipe

The traditional lemon meringue pie usually has cream or custard and wheat flour. In this case we’ve changed the recipe to be gluten-free and dairy-free.

Ingredients

For the crust

• 2oo g of ground almonds
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of honey or sugar

For the filling

• 6 eggs
• 180 g (7 oz) of sugar
• 200 ml of lemon juice
• Lemon zest
• 40 g (1.8 0z) of vegetable margarine
• 20 g (1 oz) corn flour or cornstarch

For the meringue

• 2 egg whites
• 100 g (4 oz) of powdered sugar

How to prepare the meringue pie

It’s better to start making the lemon cream, so that it has time to cool while you make the crust. That way, apart from saving time, the filling will become creamier.

• First, beat the egg with the sugar using whisks.
• Then, wash and grate half a lemon, taking care not to grate the white part to avoid making the dessert bitter. In another bowl, squeeze the lemons and strain the resulting juice.
• After that, in the bowl with the eggs and sugar, add the zest, lemon juice, and sifted cornmeal.
• If you don’t have a sieve, you can use a strainer. This step is extremely important so that it isn’t lumpy and the cream has a homogeneous appearance.
• Next, pour all the ingredients into a saucepan and heat over a low heat until the mixture thickens.
• Finally, add the vegetable margarine off the heat and let it sit in the refrigerator.

To prepare the crust:

• First, put the ground almond, egg, oil, and honey in a large bowl. With the help of a hand mixer or whisks, mix all the ingredients well until you get a homogeneous dough.
• If you’re allergic to nuts, you can substitute rice, oatmeal, or even corn flour for the ground almonds.
• Then, arrange the dough in a 26 cm (10 inch) diameter ovenproof pan previously greased and floured.
• Next, put the lemon cream on the dough with a silicone spatula.
• After that, preheat the oven to 200ºC (390ºF) and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for about 20 minutes.
• While it cools, start making the meringue that will cover the lemon pie. Whip the egg whites until stiff and add the sugar little by little.
• Then, when the whites are the right texture, put the mixture in a pastry bag.
• To finish, decorate the pie with the meringue and brown the surface of the pie with a blowtorch. If you don’t have a blowtorch, you can put it in the oven at 200ºC with heat on top for 2 or 3 minutes.

Now you have your lemon meringue pie, perfect for celiacs and lactose-intolerant people. It’s a slightly complex recipe, but you can make it with your kids. In addition, you can accompany it with fresh and tropical fruit ice cream, or with a coconut and melon fruit salad.