LEMON MERINGUE PIE IN A JAR
LEMON MERINGUE PIE IN A JAR
Hello! Those of you who follow this blog regularly know that I reside in the beautiful Southern California mountain resort of Lake Arrowhead. It is a small community of about 12,000 full-time residents. 70% of the homes in Lake Arrowhead are second homes for folks who occupy their residences part-time. So during the summer months when our population swells with vacationeers, there are wonderful concerts and many activities to enjoy every weekend. One of the things we like to support is the Blue Jay Jazz Foundation, which puts on a great Jazz Festival each summer. The proceeds from this foundation provide for a musical instrument lending program and scholarships for our local students.
Last weekend we attended the Jazz festival, which took place lakeside at our beautiful Tavern Bay Beach Club. We reserved a table with friends and each of us contributed to a wonderful picnic under the stars. I was charged with bringing the dessert so I decided to bring something that was easy to serve, easy to transport, and was something light and summery. So, I prepared Lemon Meringue Pie in a Jar.
I’m a big fan of things in jars and actually have a Pinterest Page dedicated to the subject. It’s amazing the fun things you can do with a simple Mason Jar. By the way, are you one of my 10K followers on Pinterest? If you aren’t I’d sure love it if you’d click here and follow me. Pinterest is such a wonderful place to get great inspiration for absolutely anything of interest to you.
So anyway, everyone at our Jazz festival table enjoyed the novelty of eating Lemon Meringue Pie in a Jar and actually asked me to post the recipe on the blog. So, here’s a tutorial on how you too can make this fun and yummy dessert…
Make The Graham Cracker Crust
What You’ll Need…
- 1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (made from about 12 crackers)
- 1/2 Cup Sifted Confectioners’ Sugar
- 6 Tablespoons Melted Butter
- 6 – 16 oz. (1 Pint) Mason Jars
Directions…
Place the graham crackers in a sealed zip lock bag. Using a rolling pin, crush the crackers into a course meal.
Transfer the graham cracker crumbs into a small bowl, add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and stir with a fork until well combined.
Add the melted butter to the cracker mixture and stir to combine.
Using a 1/3 Cup measuring cup, evenly distribute the graham cracker crust into the bottom of 6, 16 ounce mason jars.
Look for something round and flat in your kitchen to tap the crust down into the bottom of each jar. I found that a candy thermometer worked perfectly for this task.
Make The Lemon Pudding
What You’ll Need…
- 1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 6 Tablespoons Corn Starch
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
- 1/2 Cup Cold Water
- 4 Well Beaten Egg Yolks (reserve the egg whites for later)
- 1 1/2 Cups Boiling Water
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Rind
Directions…
Fresh squeezed lemon juice is essential to this recipe, so start by squeezing 1/2 Cup fresh juice from about 2 to 3 lemons. I use a handy-dandy citrus press/squeezer like the one shown, and a small strainer to insure that I don’t get seeds into my juice. I also recommend assembling all of your ingredients beforehand, as the preparation of this pudding goes fast, and you need the ingredients at the ready.
Add the sugar, cornstarch and salt to a 3 quart saucepan and whisk to combine. Next stir in the cold water, lemon juice and beaten eggs and blend thoroughly. While whisking constantly, gradually add the boiling water.
Now, turn on the stove and bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring constantly. As the pudding begins to thicken reduce the heat and simmer, still stirring, for 1 minute.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and lemon rind.
Transfer the lemon pudding into a 4 cup/1 quart, Pyrex Measuring Cup or heat resistant pitcher with a spout.
Carefully pour the hot pudding into the mason jars that have already been filled with the graham cracker crust. Divide the pudding equally among the 6 jars.
Place the jars in the refrigerator to cool while you prepare the meringue topping.
Make The Meringue Topping
What you’ll need…
- 4 Egg Whites at Room Temperature (without a trace of yolk)
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tarter
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- Candy Thermometer
Directions…
Heat the water, cream of tarter and sugar in a small, heavy saucepan and stir until dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and cook about 3 minutes until all crystals on the side of the pot have washed down. Uncover and cook without stirring until the syrup reaches 240° F. This is when that candy thermometer comes in handy once again. Remove from the heat.
Add the 4 egg whites to the bowl of a standing mixer and beat until they stand on peaks but fall over slightly. Now, while beating the eggs on medium high, pour the hot syrup VERY gradually into the beaten egg whites, beating constantly until the meringue is cool and stiff.
Carefully spoon or pipe the meringue on top of the cooled lemon pudding, dividing it equally between the 6 jars.
Next is the fun part, when you get to play with fire! Using a Culinary Chef’s Torch lightly brown the tops of each meringue. If you’ve never used one of these nifty torches it may seem intimidating, but they are actually easy and fun to use. They aren’t very expensive and they operate using refillable butane fuel.
Place the lids back onto each jar. If you really want to get fancy try using Baker’s Twine to tie a wooden spoon onto each jar. Return the individual Lemon Meringue Pies in a Jar to the refrigerator and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Then you’re all set to serve your Lemon Meringue Pie in A Jar to your very happy friends.
Here’s the handy-dandy printable recipe…
- Make The Graham Cracker Crust
- 1½ Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (made from about 12 crackers)
- ½ Cup Sifted Confectioners' Sugar
- 6 Tablespoons Melted Butter
- 6 - 16 oz. (1 Pint) Mason Jars
- Make The Lemon Pudding
- 1½ Cups Granulated Sugar
- 6 Tablespoons Corn Starch
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Cup Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
- ½ Cup Cold Water
- 4 Well Beaten Egg Yolks (reserve the egg whites for later)
- 1½ Cups Boiling Water
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Rind
- Make The Meringue Topping
- 4 Egg Whites at Room Temperature (without a trace of yolk)
- ½ Cup Water
- ¼ Teaspoon Cream of Tarter
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- Make The Graham Cracker Crust
- Place the graham crackers in a sealed zip lock bag.
- Using a rolling pin, crush the crackers into a course meal.
- Transfer the graham cracker crumbs into a small bowl, add the sifted confectioners' sugar and stir with a fork until well combined.
- Add the melted butter to the cracker mixture and stir to combine.
- Using a ⅓ Cup measuring spoon, evenly distribute the graham cracker crust into the bottom of 6, 16 ounce mason jars.
- Look for something round and flat in your kitchen to tap the crust down int the bottom of each jar. I found that a candy thermometer worked perfectly for this task.
- Make The Lemon Pudding
- Add the sugar, cornstarch and salt to a 3 quart saucepan and whisk to combine.
- Next stir in the cold water, lemon juice and beaten eggs and blend thoroughly.
- While whisking constantly, gradually add the boiling water.
- Now, turn on the stove and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. As the pudding begins to thicken reduce the heat and simmer, still stirring, for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and lemon rind.
- Transfer the lemon pudding into a 4 cup/1 quart, Pyrex Measuring Cup or heat resistant pitcher with a spout.
- Carefully pour the hot pudding into the mason jars that have already been filled with the graham cracker crust.
- Divide the pudding equally among the 6 jars.
- Place the jars in the refrigerator to cool while you prepare the meringue topping.
- Make The Meringue Topping
- Heat the water, cream of tarter and sugar in a small, heavy saucepan and stir until dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and cook about 3 minutes until all crystals on the side of the pot have washed down.
- Uncover and cook without stirring until the syrup reaches 240° F. Remove from the heat.
- Add the 4 egg whites to the bowl of a standing mixer and beat until they stand on peaks but fall over slightly.
- While beating the eggs on medium high, pour the hot syrup VERY gradually into the beaten egg whites, beating constantly until the meringue is cool and stiff.
- Carefully spoon or pipe the meringue on top of the cooled lemon pudding, diving it equally between the 6 jars.
- Using a Culinary Chefs Torch lightly brown the tops of each meringue.
- Replace the lids onto the jars and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Shop the recipe: Click on the photos to take you to the items…
So there you have it: LEMON MERINGUE PIE IN A JAR
Thanks so much for dropping in!
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