BRYANNA’S VEGAN LEMON MERINGUE PIE
Makes 1/ 9” pie
6 servings
Make this delicious treat the morning of the day you plan to serve it. This recipe has 3 components—crust, filling, and topping. It sounds complicated, but it really is not. Just follow the sequences as I describe it.
For the topping, you need a packet of Angel Food Vegan Meringue Cookie Mix. The mix is available in the US (online) at Food Fight! in Portland, OR; veganessentials.com (they ship internationally); and from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe from Atlanta, GA. vivagranola.com in Canada (Quebec) now carries it, too.
You also need some Instant Clear-Jel (read about it at the end of this blog post). Instant Clear-Jel isn't available on store shelves . Here in BC, Canada I had to buy 11 lbs. of it from a bakery supply company (Snowcap-- http://www.snowcap.com/), courtesy of the bakery where my husband works, but maybe a local bakery or restaurant would sell you a smaller amount. In the US, you can mail-order it from Everyday Dish Market (they will send to Canada, too, I think).
Make and assemble the pie as follows:
1.) CRUST:
BRYANNA'S LOW-FAT, CRISPY OLIVE OIL PASTRY
Servings: 6 Yield: 1 crust
This crispy pastry is very easy to handle and quite low in fat (about 1 tsp. of olive oil per serving).
1 cup unbleached flour (NOT pastry flour)
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup ice-cold water
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the cold olive oil briefly. Add the water and mix with a fork until it hold together. Handle as little as possible. Lightly form it into a ball and refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
On a lightly-floured piece of baking parchment, roll out the dough to fit a 9" pie pan. Bring the pastry up to the inside top of the pan and flute it, to make a shallow shell-- not over the edge. Trim the top edge neatly. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Place a square of foil or baking parchment over the dough and weight down with a layer of dried beans. Bake 6 minutes. Remove beans and foil and bake 8-10 minutes more, or until it begins to turn golden. Remove from the oven and cool the pastry on a rack.
Reduce oven heat to 212°F. Make the Filling while the pastry cools.
2.) BRYANNA’S VEGAN LEMON MERINGUE PIE FILLING:
Whisk together in a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom:
1 c. light unbleached organic granulated sugar
2/3 c. nondairy milk
7 T. orange juice (for color)
6 T. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
Stir constantly until the mixture is thickened and translucent.
Immediately whisk in:
1/2 c. fresh or organic bottled lemon juice
2 T. grated lemon zest OR 2 tsp. lemon extract
1 T. Earth Balance (vegan “buttery spread”)
Cool this for 5 minutes. Pour it into the cooled pie shell and smooth the top evenly. Set aside.
Immediately make the Meringue Topping as follows:
3.) ANGEL FOOD’S VEGAN MERINGUE TOPPING:
Have ready a packet of Angel Food Vegan Meringue Cookie Mix (see info in text at the beginning of the recipe).
Whip for several minutes. Again, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure you have incorporated all of the powder and sugar.
Whip again for several minutes, until it is really fluffy, and you can’t see any granules in it (scrape the bottom and sides as necessary to make sure all of the Clear-Jel gets mixed in), then place spoonfuls of the meringue onto the surface of your pie. The mixture is very thick and sticky. It will spread out a little when baked and the tops of meringue “blobs” will smooth out somewhat, so allow for that. I used 10 spoonfuls around the edge and one larger one in the center.
Bake at 100°C (212°-215°F) for about 20 minutes.
Cool the pie on a rack and then refrigerate until serving. Serve the same day it is made.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 410.5 calories; 14% calories from fat; 6.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 348.8mg sodium; 121.8mg potassium; 86.4g carbohydrates; 1.1g fiber; 61.1g sugar; 85.3g net carbs; 3.1g protein; 8.6 points.