Lemon meringue pies (with raw coconut hazelnut crust)

Oh, dessert, how I love thee.

Growing up, we had dessert every night. Mostly New Zealand icecream, but often apple, tamarillo, feijoa or pear crumbles, with heaps of oats and brown sugar. Winter was microwaved chocolate self-saucing pudding, butterscotch pudding, berry sponge pudding… we were very lucky kids.

These days I try not to eat refined sugar every day. A few squares of dark chocolate is a great dessert for me, and regardless of the benefits of flavonoids. I just cannot overeat dark chocolate. My friend Reuben called me a chocolate lightweight for this very reason.

Sometimes, though, desserts are great to bring to dinner parties, or to treat workmates, or just to eat with a fork in front of Pitch Perfect wearing your flannel PJs. Yup, I have those days too.
SO yeah, lemon meringue pie is, for me, the most simultaneously grown up and childish of desserts. It’s très elegant but fills me with infantile delight. BEST thing is, I found a way to make it with HONEY. I’ma write another post about my love of honey some other time, but I REALLY like it. This pie is adapted from recipes from Cupcake Project and Health Food Lover.

I highly recommend making this in small ramekins because you're going to need to eat it tonight. If you can't afford honey or don't like the taste (or you're allergic!) there's so many recipes for decent lemon meringue pie on the internet, good luck with your pie making!

Ingredients

PIE CRUST
1/4 cup almonds, soaked in purified water 1-2 days, drained
1/4 cup hazelnuts, soaked in purified water 1-2 days, drained
8 pitted dates, soaked in warm water 20 minutes and drained
1/4 tsp natural vanilla extract
1/4 cup shredded coconut
Pinch sea salt

In a food processor, pulse all ingredients until the almonds break up, then puree.

PIE ASSEMBLY PART I

Press into as many ramekins as you have/need. This really depends on the size of your ramekin, yo. Or if you have a big pie dish, press into this.

LEMON HONEY (some call this lemon curd)

2 egg yolks
2 lemons, juice and zest
2 Tablespoons honey (maple syrup would also work here)
1/2 cup cultured organic butter (organic butter just tastes amazing, feel free to call me a snob)

In a bowl beat the egg yolks, lemon juice, zest, raw honey until thick. 

In a double boiler (with the water at a simmer) whisk the mixture until thick and the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Take off heat. 

Melt the butter, add to the mixture, slowly, while whisking.

Sieve the whole mixture and place into a sterilised jar and refrigerate if not eating immediately.

PIE ASSEMBLY PART II

On your ramekin/pie dish pie crust, spoon as much lemon honey as you want to cover the bases and give a really good lemony hit.

 HONEY MERINGUE

1 cup light honey
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.

In a double boiler, heat honey to boiling. In a bowl combine salt, egg whites, vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until whites form peaks. Slowly pour in honey. Beat for 5-7 minutes until the meringue holds its own shape. You gotta work quickly here! Time, and meringue, waits for no one. Pie assembly Part III needs to start while the meringue is still hot!

PIE ASSEMBLY PART III

On your lemon curd/pie crust work of art, spoon out your meringue quickly while it's still hot.

Eat within 3 hours of making, because that meringue doesn't stay pretty for too long. The honey kinda wants to return to liquid, I think.

Enjoy!