Summer fruit meringue pies

summer fruit meringue pieWell I call them summer fruit but really they could be early autumn meringue pies as they are filled with blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. I used the same batch of pastry as I did for my custard tarts so only made 3 small pies, however you could do a large pie or 6 small pies if you weren’t making anything else at the same time. I love these pies because they aren’t as sweet as some of the bought ones, meaning you don’t get that sickly feeling after eating them.

 

casesFor the pastry:

125g Plain flour

15g Castor sugar

75g Unsalted butter

1 large egg yolk (keep the egg white for the meringue)

1 tablespoon of cold water

 

  • If you have a blender (which I don’t), just put all the ingredients in and mix.
  • Otherwise place the flour and sugar and in a bowl and mix through before rubbing the butter in to create a breadcrumb effect.
  • Next beat the egg yolk and mix through with your hands or a wooden spoon.
  • Add the water and combine the dough into a ball.
  • Knead briefly to ensure the egg yolk has distributed evenly throughout the pastry (no yellow bits).
  • Butter your pie tin – with fluted edges I find the best way to stop pastry sticking is to get right in there with your fingers and make sure every bit of the fluting is buttered.
  • Roll out the pastry on a floured non-stick surface (I used my fondant mat but greaseproof paper works too) and then flip the pastry onto the pie tin before carefully peeling off the non stick surface.
  • Carefully lift and press the pastry into place making sure there are no holes.
  • Use a knife to remove excess pastry from the top drawing it outwards so that it pulls the pastry into the walls of the tin rather than away from them.
  • fill each mini pie with the fruit mixture and place in a 180c oven for 15 minutes.

orangeFor the filling:

250g of mixed berries I like to use raspberries, blackberries and diced strawberries

The juice of half a large orange (or 3 tablespoons of bought orange juice)

30g unsalted butter

100g castor sugar

2 large egg yolks (beaten)

3 tablespoons of cornflour

  • Place the berries, butter, sugar and orange juice in a pan over a low heat and cook for about 5 minutes on a low heat stirring to dissolve the butter and sugar. Cook until the fruit begins to break down and the liquid starts to thicken a little.
  • Remove from the heat and add the beaten egg yolk and cornflour (make sure the fruit isn’t too hot as this would cook the egg)
  • While the filling cooks make the meringue ready to add.

For the meringue:

2 egg whites

120 g castor sugar

  • Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks
  • Add the sugar a spoonful at a time while continuing to mix at a slow speed
  • Once the pies have cooked for 15 minutes add the meringue on top and return to the oven for another 1o minutes until they turn a golden brown

I had some meringue left over as I was making fewer pies than normal so I added a splash of clear vinegar to the remainder to stop it browning as much and made some mini meringues to serve with the pies.

summer fruit meringue pie cut
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10 comments

  1. admin says:

    Thanks πŸ™‚ they were delicious and I’ve never had a problem with this pastry – the custard tarts were a tiny bit soggy but it was because they sat on the side too long before going into the oven πŸ™‚

  2. Jemma says:

    Hi, I stumbled across this recipe whilst searching for a way to use leftovers and have myself a 7″ meringue settled by in the oven!! I had a problem with pastry shrinkage as soon as the dish went in the oven, despite resting, not over handling, pricking the base etc, but I’m hoping I’ll find it somewhere when I cut into it ☺️ Thanks for the recipe!

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