Lemon Meringue Ice Cream

Name: Lemon Meringue Ice Cream
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 4 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: English
Ingredients: 110g butter; 225g caster sugar; 3 eggs; 3 lemons (juice and zests); 250ml whole milk; 250ml double cream; 5 egg yolks; 75g caster sugar; 300g caster sugar; 5 egg whites

Vegetarian

Gluten-free

A summery twist of one of my all time favourite desserts: Lemon Meringue Pie. The tart sour lemon curd combined with sweet and crispy meringue is heavenly.

This recipe yields more meringue than necessary to mix into the ice cream, however it uses up all the egg white from the eggs used to make the custard for the ice cream reducing waste. Besides, how could excess meringues be a problem!

This recipe requires the use of an ice cream machine. You can of course try to do it without, but the ice cream machine will yield a much smoother ice cream. In order to make the lemon curd you will need to use a double boiler, or if you don’t have one to hand, you can use a heatproof bowl on top of a sauce pan with a small amount of simmering water beneath. If you taste the custard before freezing, it may taste very sweet. Don't worry about this as sweetness is surpressed when frozen and it will be delicious. Keep the excess meringues in an airtight tin and they'll stay fresh for several days. You can break them up and use them as a garnish on top of your ice cream or just enjoy them seperately.

Serves

Prep

Cook

Total

Ingredients

Lemon curd

110g butter

225g caster sugar

3 eggs

3 lemons (juice and zests)

Ice cream custard

250ml whole milk

250ml double cream

5 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

Meringue

300g caster sugar

5 egg whites

Method

Start off by making a lemon curd. To do this, combine the butter, sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest into a double boiler/heatproof bowl and heat steadily while constantly stirring. Take your time as you don't want to scramble the egg.
Once the curd has thickened, it's time to turn your curd into a custard for ice cream. Add the milk and cream to your curd and continue to heat.
In another heatproof bowl, whisk your egg yolks and caster sugar together until they turn pale.
Tip the hot curd mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk constantly for about two minutes, then return the mixture to your double boiler.
Continue to stir and heat steadily until your custard has thickened, then remove from the heat and let the mixture cool in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.
Now for the meringue. Heat the oven to 200ºC / 390ºF. Take a large oven tray lined with baking parchment and spread the sugar evenly. Heat the sugar in the oven once its to temperature for 8-10 mins. It should be beginning to dissolve at the edges.
While the sugar is in the oven, start whisking you egg whites on a low speed in a stand mixer until the whites just begin to froth.
When the sugar is ready, turn the mixer up to top speed and carefully pour the sugar slowly into the whisking whites. Once all the sugar is in, continue to whisk for about 10 minutes or until the meringue is cold. It should look silky and be very thick.
Reduce the heat of the oven to 110ºC / 230ºF. Line baking parchment to 1 or 2 baking trays. Dollop large spoonfuls of meringue onto the baking parchment leaving plenty of space as the meringues will expand.
Cook for about 2 hours until they are firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Once your custard is completely cooled to fridge temperature, prepare your ice cream machine to churn and pour in the custard. Churn the ice cream as per the manufacturers instructions of your ice cream machine.
Once the mixture has met the required consistency, take a suitable tub and break up some meringue and put it in the bottom. Layer ice cream and meringue until your tub is completely full. Seal your tub and place it in the freezer to firm up. This is ready to enjoy after a couple of hours. Serve as it is or with a couple of strawberries or extra meringue as a garnish.