Baked lemon pie

 In the traditional French lemon pie recipe, the crust is baked empty and the lemon curd layer is spread on top. In this recipe, the lemon curd is baked in the oven. The result is a very smooth, silky lemon filling. The original recipe had a crust I wasn't very fond of, so I replaced it with the pâte sablée recipe I use for the chocolate silk pie.



CRUST 
1 stick unsalted butter (110 grams), melted 
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar 
1 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

LEMON FILLING 
Zest of 3 lemons
300 grams of caster sugar
450 grams of eggs (approximately 8 large eggs)
240 grams of lemon juice (it took 7 medium-size lemons for me)
240 grams of 35% fat thick cream (crème fraîche épaisse)
 
SWISS MERINGUE
120 grams egg whites (3 to 4 egg whites)
120 grams of caster sugar
120 grams of confectioner's sugar


Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
Make the crust. Mix melted butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in medium bowl. Add flour and mix until well blended. Press dough onto bottom and up sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake crust until golden brown and cooked through, 18-20 minutes. Cool crust completely on rack.

In a bowl, mix zest with sugar. Add eggs and whisk well until mixture becomes frothy, then add lemon juice and finally, the heavy cream. Pour filling into crust, and place pie in the oven, turning down the heat to 300°F/150°C. Bake for one hour (it took 15 minutes more in my electric conventional oven). The pie is ready to come out when the filling is not wobbly anymore (or barely). Let cool completely.

To make the swiss meringue, make a double boiler: fill a pot with 1 inch of water and place on the stove over medium heat. In a bowl that fits over the pot with the hot water, place egg whites and sugars. Using electric beaters, whisk until sugar dissolves completely and mixture turns into a thick glossy meringue (7-8 minutes). Remove the bowl from the heat and continue beating to cool off the meringue.

Pour Swiss meringue into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle and decorate top of the lemon pie. Burn the meringue tips with a cooking torch. Your pie is now ready to enjoy!




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