Pieday Friday: Lemon Meringue Piecakes

TGIF! I can’t believe it’s already Friday! And JUNE! I love it!

What’s a piecake? Is it a pie? Is it a cake? Essentially, it’s both! I found these cute cupcake pies on Pinterest the other day and thought I’d try them out. I used my normal pastry crust recipe and then used the methods described in the Pinterest post.

Seriously. CUTEST THINGS EVER. I mean, what’s better than 1 large pie? 9 small pies, of course!

LEMON MERINGUE PIECAKES
Yields 9-10 mini pies
Adapted from Emilie S.

Ingredients

For the Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold margarine (like Earth Balance)
4 Tablespoons ice water
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For the Filling

1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 Tablespoons margarine
4 egg yolks, beaten

For the Meringue

4 egg whites
6 Tablespoons white sugar

Directions

For the Crust

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter (or your hands) cut in margarine. The dough should begin to form in crumbles.

In a glass measuring cup, stir together ice water and vinegar, then drizzle about a Tablespoon of the mixture into the flour. Mix lightly to moisten. Repeat by adding a second Tablespoon of the liquid and mixing. Add the final bit of the mixture and mix until a ball of dough forms.

Add a little more ice water if the dough does not come together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

After dough is chilled, roll out to be about 1/4 an inch think. Using a yogurt lid (or cottage cheese, or round tupperware), cut out circles of dough and place them in an ungreased cupcake pan (see below).

Push the dough into the cupcake pan, then, using a fork, poke a few holes in the sides and bottom of the dough.

Place parchment paper in each cupcake, weight with pie weights or dried beans to prevent locking (see below).

Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Leave in cupcake pan and allow them to cool completely.

Leave oven preheated to 350F.

For the Filling

In a sauce pan, sift together sugar (only 1 cup), flour, cornstarch and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.

Stir in margarine.

Place egg yolks in a bowl and gradually pour a few Tablespoons of the lemon mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour egg mixture into the saucepan. This prevents the eggs from cooking

Bring to a boil and stir constantly, until mixture forms a thick pudding. Remove from heat.

Pour filling into cooled piecake crusts. Fill to the rim of the crusts.

For the Meringue

Using a standing mixer, beat egg whites until foamy.

Pour in 6 Tablespoons sugar, a Tablespoon at a time.

Beat on high until meringue forms stiff peaks. Scrape the sides down as necessary.

Using a spatula, drop a dollop of meringue on each cupcake. Seal the edges.

Using the back of a spoon, dab the meringue to form peaks.

Baking

Bake for 5 minutes at 350F. Rotate pan and bake for 5 more minutes, until meringue is lightly browned.

Let sit in the cupcake pan for 5-10 minutes.

Using a knife, cut around the meringue and life the piecakes out of the pan one at a time. Place on a wire cooling rack.

When piecakes have cooled completely, chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

THE REVIEW

MMMMMERINGUE. You know it’s my favorite…

Lemon meringue though, that’s my double favorite.

Not only were these tiny pies delicious, they were adorable! There was the perfect ratio of crust to filling to meringue and the lemon filling was just the right amount of sweet and sour. This was a battle of the meringues, though! Last week’s meringue was a little lighter than this one, but this week’s was a little richer. It’s a tough call, but I’m going to have to give it to last week’s (3 egg whites, 1/4 cup sugar)!

I think I pick the perfect days to make meringue. The weather was perfect and the meringue held up very nicely. These little pies are adorable, but with meringue on them, they’re beautiful!

THANKS!

I reached 100 followers on WordPress this week! Thanks for all of your support, I couldn’t keep cooking without you guys!

Have a great weekend!