This Limoncello cream meringue pie was my "homework" after the third pastry lesson I recently attended. Gabriella taught us how to make meringues for different purposes: as a cake base, as a topping, as biscuits, for decorations, etc. We made a delicious Meringata cake and this extraordinary pie, that I made again at home. In this dessert, the meringue topping is not baked, but left soft, only the surface can be browned using a kitchen torch (I don't have it). The result is a wonderful combination between the crunchy base and an incredible "wrapping" experience offered by the fragrant lemoncello cream enriched by smooth waves of meringue. Very sweet...not indicated for diabetics...:-) For the others...here the recipe of my Limoncello cream meringue pie!
Limoncello cream meringue pie
(the recipe is taken from my class cookbook written by Roberta Molani - makes 8 servings)
To make the dough base:
300 g white flour
100 g sugar
150 g butter
1 egg
salt
To make the meringue - Meringa italiana veloce:
100 g egg whites
200 g sugar
To make the Limoncello cream:
450 g milk
50 g cream
100 g sugar
75 g yolks
45 g corn flour
1 grated lemon peel
vanilla extract
50 g Limoncello (lemon liqueur)
Prepare the dough by mixing the flour with a pinch of salt and the cold butter cut into little cubes. Work quickly till you get a sandy compound, like Parmigiano cheese, add one egg and work again quickly (don't let the butter overheat). Wrap the paste with film and let it rest for about half an hour. Roll it out in a buttered cake mold and riddle the bottom with a fork. Bake the base at 180 C for about 20 minutes. Boil the cream with milk, vanilla extract and lemon peel. Pour the mixture on the yolks previously beaten with the corn flour and cook till the cream gets thick. Let it cool and add the Limoncello liqueur. Put in the fridge. To make the meringue, mix sugar with egg whites in a pot with a whisk. Cook until the compound reaches 60 C, always stirring. Place in a bowl and whip it up with an electric whisk till the meringue gets thick and shiny. Now you can assemble the cake: spread out well the limoncello cream on the cake base and decorate with the meringue using a sac à poche. If you have it, brown the surface with a kitchen torch.
