Aunt Tootsie’s Lemon Meringue Pie
Aunt Tootsie’s Lemon Meringue Pie – this recipe is a family favorite! It’s an easy pie recipe with homemade lemon filling and meringue. Everyone loves it!
When I was a kid (and even still) whenever pie is mentioned around my dad, he brings up my Great Aunt Tootsie’s Lemon Meringue Pie. He talks about how the crust was amazing and the filling was so smooth and perfect. His Aunt Tootsie was his mom’s sister, and I honestly don’t remember ever meeting her. I think, between my Nana and Tootsie, that the latter was the baker in the family. My Nana could bake, sure, but meals were her specialty (and her cookies were actually Pillsbury…which I didn’t know until I was an adult).
By the time I was in my early 20s both my grandmother’s had passed and with them, their recipes. My mom’s mom didn’t write anything down, but my Nana had a recipe book that my aunt took when she died. A few years ago she sent me an envelope full of hand written recipes and newspaper clippings that had been shoved in my Nana’s recipe book. One of them was for Lemon Meringue Pie. I decided I had to try to make it, and now I finally have!
I absolutely love old family recipes. I think the ones that are handed down between generations are some of the best, don’t you agree? Food and memory are intertwined so much; just a bite of a meal your grandma used to make can bring back vivid memories; even sights and smells and sounds from the time you used to eat it. That’s what I was hoping to create with this pie recipe, because I’m going to make it for my dad someday.
I know Lemon Meringue Pie seems like an involved process, and it can be, but it’s worth it. I would give it a medium on the scale of easy to hard, but this recipe is easy to follow and while it has some moving parts, it’s totally attainable. I’ve talked at length before about how I prefer marshmallow meringue to traditional (and I mean, how can you not love a gooey melty marshmallow?) but I think that’s because I’ve never had a GOOD traditional meringue pie before. THIS meringue is super easy to make and tastes wonderful. It’s not soggy or eggy – it’s the perfect complement to the sweet and tart lemon filling.
One of the ways to make this pie much easier is to use a pre-made crust. I love my all butter crust recipe (it can be frozen, BTW, for later use) but in a pinch or when I’m making an already involved recipe, I’ll start with a premade crust. Make sure to pre-bake and cool it before you start making your recipe. The filling is already cooked and the only reason it’s baked is to set and brown the meringue.
The lemon filling is an easy lemon curd-like recipe. It’s cooked on the stove, thickened with cornstarch and egg yolks, then strained into the baked pie shell. I always like to strain it because no matter how careful you are when tempering your eggs, some little bits of cooked egg might happen. Straining it takes all those bits out and leaves you with a smooth and silky filling.
The meringue whips up easy with a hand or a stand mixer. Don’t leave out the cream of tartar; it’s important for stabilization. You can find it near the spices in the grocery store, and don’t worry, you’ll use it in my sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, so it won’t go to waste.
Once it’s all assembled (see the video below), you just have to bake it until the meringue on top is all brown and toasty. The hardest part is letting it cool until it sets!
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