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lime meringue pie – we should cocoa challenge

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don’t you just love a challenge…? something to stretch the culinary horizons…?

… each time Chele or Choclette set the monthly ‘we should cocoa’ challenge I usually tend to get very excited about what i’m going to bake… I start by scouring my recipe books, but also, as I’m sure many of you do too, I input the key words into google… just to see what comes up…

… this month, lime was the extra ingredient.  At first I did a basic google search and it seemed that my options were a flourless chocolate and lime cake or the ubiquitous chocolate and lime cheesecake… quite literally this was THE recipe that every site had… and to be honest i’m not crazy for chocolate cheesecake… Plus MissCakeBaker from what I baked this weekend baked this incredible flourless cake… and i’m not going to attempt competing with that amazing thing…

… but then, delving deeper into the recesses of the wonderful web, I stumbled across a recipe for lime curd… a very simple twist on the more regular lemon curd and that’s when my brain started doing double flips… which is why 2 limes, 2 egg whites, cocoa powder in the pastry crust to keep it in-line with the challenge… and about a gallon of green food colouring later the Lime Meringue Pie was born… 
Lime Meringue Pie with a chocolate pastry crust
I used an 8inch fluted bottomless flan tin
Pastry
6oz plain white flour
3oz margarine or butter
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
cold water to bind
Lime Curd
2 large limes (for the juice and the zest)
10fl oz cold water
2 large egg yolks
3 level tablespoons of cornflour
2oz caster sugar
1 1/2 oz caster sugar
a heck of a lot of green food colouring
Meringue
2 large egg whites
4oz caster sugar
– make the pastry first by combining all the ingredients until you have a smooth dough, then pop it in the fridge whilst you make the rest of the pie
– place the cornflour and sugar into a bowl and add as much of the cold water to make a paste, then place the rest of the water into a pan on the hob to heat.
– add the lime zest to the boiling water and simmer for a couple of minutes then pour onto the cornflour paste and mix till smooth
– pour the whole lot back into the pan and back onto a gentle heat for 1 minute, stirring all the time as it thickens.
– take the pan off the heat and add the egg yolks, lime juice and finally the butter, stirring all the time. (I used a small whisk) the consistency should be like thick batter.  set aside to cool slightly.  At this stage I added the green food colouring.  You don’t have to add it but boy does it look good! 
– now take the pastry out of the fridge, roll it out and line the pre-buttered flan tin and blind bake this for 20 minutes on 190.
– once the pastry case is baked turn the oven down to 150 and make your meringue by whisking the whites furiously until stiff peaks form, then add the sugar a quarter at a time, whisking till encorporated. 
– pour the lime curd into the pastry case, spoon the meringue onto the top and get fancy with a pallet knife
– bake on 150 for 45 mins until the meringue is hard and beige on the outside and soft on the inside

eat and of course, enjoy!

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Comments

  6. This sounds sinfully delicious. Count me in :-). I'd really love to have a slice of this. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary

  12. I love it! Did you put some green food coloring in your beer while you were at it ?!? Happy St Paddy's Day! This pie is just perfect on all fronts!

  15. I'd love to say that I picked lime as this months ingredient as St Paddy's day was coming up, but alas I am just not that clever! Great cheesecake Dom, thanks for taking part again ;0)

  18. Thanks all for the kindly comments. I totally forgot about St Pats Day actually but yes the green is perfect! I have to say it tasted amazing but I do love that sherbet bitter sweet you get from limes. Great fun!!

  20. Looks great – love the luminous green lime filling – are you sure you used enough colouring 😉

    Love the idea of chocolate pastry too, defo bookmarking this one!

  21. Are you sure this hasn't walked straight out of a hammerville horror? Looks amazing and I'm sure it tasted great. Lime curd is on my long list of things to make – might just miss out the green colouring though 😉 Thanks for taking part.

  22. Admittedly, green food risks looking a bit Frankenstein (like my cake pops last week eeek) but I really really like this. I love choc and lime and am soooo behind I don't know if I'll get to make an entry for this – which is really frustrating as I know exactly what I want to make.

  23. You know Sarah that lime curd tasted amazing but the colour without the dye was dull yellow. I have an amazing recipe for rhubarb curd too which also comes out a dull pink but I use beetroot to dye that!

  24. I very nearly made lime meringue pie this sunday as I now have loads of limes in the house after this month's challenge. I am even more tempted now, but might stick with the dull yellow colour.