Raspberry Meringue Pie

A twist on the traditional lemon meringue pie, but equally as delicious and a great surprise when you cut into it in front of dinner guests!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

150g (5 1/2 oz) plain flour
25g (1 oz) caster sugar
75g (2 3/4 oz) unsalted butter
1 large egg
800g (1lb 12 oz) raspberries
50g (1 3/4 oz) cornflour
75g (2 3/4 oz) caster sugar
juice of 1 lemon
4 large eggs
50g (1 3/4 oz) butter
175g (7 oz) caster sugar

A twist on a classic

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C (375F, Gas mark 5).

2. Place the flour and 25g sugar in a food processor and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Separate the yolk from the egg white, place the white in a large, clean bowl for use later and add the yolk to the flour mixture. Process, adding 2-3 tbsp cold water to bring the pastry together. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, process the raspberries into a puree then push through a sieve over a medium pan, discarding the pips.

4. In a small bowl, mix together the cornflour, 75g sugar and lemon juice and add this to the raspberry puree. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened.

5. Separate the remaining eggs, adding the whites to the large clean bowl. Beat the egg yolks and butter into the raspberry mixture then leave to cool.

6. Roll out the pastry and use it to line a 23cm flan tin. Prick the base with a fork and chill for another 10 minutes. Line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans then bake the pastry case blind for 15 minutes, removing the greaseproof and baking beans after 10 minutes. Remove from the oven then reduce the oven temperature to 180C (350G, Gas mark 4).

7. Spoon the raspberry mixture into the pastry case, spreading it level. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, and then gradually add the 175g sugar until you have a glossy thick meringue mixture. Spoon the meringue over the raspberry mixture and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. a picnic!.