guava meringue pie

Greetings! I can’t believe half the year is already over! I’ve been enjoying my days off experimenting in the kitchen immensely. It’s a luxury that I hope I never take for granted. Even though we don’t have a large kitchen at all, I’ve been putting my laptop and work stool on the narrow space between the stove and the counter, because it’s a convenient place to be while searching for online recipes and also being able to check to see what ingredients I have in the cupboards. 

I’ve always wanted to make a guava meringue pie, but I always get nervous with pies, I’m not sure why. I think because I’ve read enough to be fearful of “the weeping” of meringues. You can read all about the weeping here. 

In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have many pie recipes on this blog. I don’t think of myself as a pie person, whatever that means. I think because there are often three components to a pie–a crust, a filling and a topping–with a lot of minute details for each of those components that one must pay attention to.

I am definitely a guava person though. I’ve always been a guava person. My love for all things guava motivated me to get over my hesitation to make this pie, and when I stumbled upon this recipe online, I knew it had to be made. 

guava meringue pie (adapted from this recipe)

pie crust 

ingredients

2 1/2  cups  all purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1/4  cup granulated sugar

1/2  teaspoon  fine salt 

1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

5  Tablespoons iced water

1  large egg, for egg wash

1 teaspoon milk, for egg wash

method

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. 

In a cabin of a food processor, add the flour, sugar, salt, and mix on low for about 15 seconds. 

Add the cubes of butter and pulse several times until the cubes of butter are pea-sized. Gradually add the iced water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing each time after adding a Tablespoon. Remove all contents onto a floured surface and knead very, very briefly, only about 5 seconds, then form into a disc and wrap in plastic, then place in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes.

When chilled, take out back onto a floured surface and roll into a large circle about 2 inches larger than a standard 9” pie pan. Roll up on the rolling pin, then unroll over the pie pan and press it into the bottom and sides without stretching or cracking. Make sure it doesn’t stretch on the area of the bottom near the sides of the pan.

Cut the crust so that it overhangs from the pie pan by about an inch. Tuck or curve the dough under the crust and flatten all around using the tines of a fork.

Prick the bottom and sides  of the crust several times all over using a fork. 

Place a large circle of parchment paper over the bottom and add about 2 pounds of beans over the parchment paper to keep the crust from puffing up while being blind baked. Alternatively, pack down some crumpled foil instead of the beans to keep the crust down while baking.

Place in the oven at 425 degrees F. for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven, remove the parchment paper and beans/foil and brush egg wash all over the sides and bottom of crust. 

Place foil around the edges of the crust to keep it from getting too brown. Place back in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to make guava filling and meringue.

guava filling 

ingredients

9 oz  guava paste, cut into cubes

5 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

3 oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes

3 egg yolks

1 whole egg

method

In a medium saucepan add the guava paste and heat on low, stirring occasionally until soft. Turn up the heat to medium high. 

Add the cornstarch, sugar and lime juice and whisk constantly until mixture starts to bubble. Continue to whisk constantly while the mixture boils and bubbles for about 2 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add the butter, egg yolks and 1 whole egg.

Return to heat and stir constantly again until mixture reaches 165 degrees F. 

Remove from heat and pour into the pie shell, making sure it is level.

meringue

ingredients 

5 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon fresh lime juice

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

method

In a large bowl, add the egg whites plus a few drops of lime juice. Begin mixing in low with a hand held electric mixer with the beater attachments and continue to beat on low until frothy first, then until soft peaks form.

After soft peaks form, add the cornstarch and vanilla extract and gradually add the sugar while increasing the speed to high. 

Stop when stiff peaks form. 

Spoon on top of the guava filling in the pie shell starting with the center of the pie and going outward towards the edges.Make sure the meringue is touching the filling. Use a spoon to make swirling patterns on the meringue or lift up the spoon to create curls if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees F, for roughly 25-30 minutes. If you’re worried about the edges of the crust getting too brown, place foil all along the edges. Let cool on a wire rack for an hour, then place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to overnight. Use a large non-serrated chef’s knife dipped in hot water then dried for slices with clean cut edges.