Lemon meringue pie

Shortcrust pastry: In a bowl, put the softened butter, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, and powdered almonds, and combine to get a creamy and smooth mixture. Then, add the whole egg and mix well. The mixture should be a bit lumpy. Finally, add the flour and mix with your hands to form a smooth dough. Be careful not to knead more than necessary.

Wrap the flattened dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (Do not form it into a ball, as it will take much longer to chill.)

Roll out the shortcrust pastry and place it in the pie pan, pricking the bottom with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (180°C).

Lemon curd: Combine the eggs with the sugar and corn starch. Add the juice of 2 lemons and the zest of 1 lemon. Mix well, then thicken over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk.

Once the curd has thickened, remove it from the heat and add the butter cut into pieces. Mix until fully incorporated, then add the juice of 1 lemon. Mix well.

Pour this curd into the baked crust, smooth the surface, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Italian meringue: Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, insert your thermometer: the syrup must reach 115°C.

While the syrup heats, start whisking your egg whites: they should start to foam. Once the syrup reaches 115°C, pour it in a thin stream over the egg whites while whisking.

Then, whisk at high speed until the bowl containing the meringue is no longer warm. This can take about 10 minutes.

Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe it onto the cooled lemon pie. If you don't have a piping bag, you can simply spread the meringue over the pie with a spatula.

Finally, brown the meringue using a torch. If you don't have one, place it under the broiler of your oven for 5 minutes.

And there you have it, your lemon meringue pie is ready!