This lighter-than-air, melt-in-your-mouth, perfect lemon pie recipe comes from the incomparable Grandma Kay Jamison. In the last few years, we’ve started using a slightly different recipe just for the meringue part (from Jean Jensen, another excellent baker, who we knew from Grandview 2nd ward). Can’t wait to make and eat this pie again!

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Lemon Meringue Pie (Grandma Kay Jamison)
Ingredients
Lemon Filling
  • 1 9" pie crust shell, cooked and cooled
  • 1 tsp grated lemon peel (or less)
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 3 Tbsp cornstarch (level)
  • 1 c + 1 Tbsp sugar
  • dash salt
  • 1/4 cube butter (or slightly more)
  • 3 large egg yolks (or 4 med/sm)*
  • 1 3/4 cup boiling water
Meringue Topping
  • 4 large egg whites (use 3 from the filling, and add 1)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
Lemon Filling

  1. Combine all ingredients except boiling water and crust in a medium sauce pan. 

  2. Pour water over mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. 

  3. Cook about 5 minutes and remove from heat and cool. 

  4. Pour into crust just before topping with meringue.

Meringue Topping

  1. Beat together 4 egg whites on high until foamy. 

  2. Gradually add 1/2 c. sugar and beat until it peaks. 

  3. Pile on top of lemon filling and spread, sealing the meringue to the crust. 

  4. Use back of spoon to make swirls and peaks in meringue. 

  5. Bake at 350°F about 10-15 min (check at 10), until the meringue peaks are golden brown. 

  6. Allow pie to sit several hours before serving, but it is best served the same day it is baked. (Cool on counter 1-2 hours, then can move to fridge for 2-3 hours or keep on counter.)

Recipe Notes

Tips to Try: 1) Don’t cool your lemon curd filling. Weeping is when syrup from the meringue forms in beads or puddles on the surface of the meringue. It can be caused by an over- or under-beaten meringue, undissolved sugar or too high an oven temperature. Another common form of weeping takes place when the syrup weeps from the bottom of the meringue, creating a slippery layer between the curd and the meringue topping. To avoid this, do not cool the curd after placing it in the pie crust. Adding the meringue to a hot or warm curd cooks the meringue from the bottom and helps bond the two layers. 2) Add cornstarch (or cream of tarter) to your meringue. While the mild acid in the cream of tartar helps stabilize the meringue, adding a little bit of cornstarch to the meringue helps it firm up and retain it’s shape because it absorbs extra moisture. This also suppresses weeping. As Pat says, “it helps prevent the ‘beading’ of moisture on top of the meringue after it is cooled.”