I made a lemon meringue pie for Pi Day on Saturday!!

I used the Healthier Comforts Animal Free Egg Whites.

Before I explain more, I want to clarify that this pie I’m sharing here IS vegan. The Animal Free Egg Whites ARE vegan. I explain how it works in the 2nd to last paragraph of this post.

I combined two different lemon meringue recipes as I wanted to try using the vegan egg white powder as a replacement for egg whites in a recipe that calls for egg whites. (rather than using the egg white powder to replace aquafaba in a vegan recipe)

Meringue

For the meringue I used the Classic Lemon Meringue Pie recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

– The egg white powder equivalent of 5 large egg whites. The bag says 1 large egg white ≈ 1 tablespoon of egg white powder and 3 tablespoons of water.

– 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

– 1/2 cup sugar

– 1/8 teaspoon salt

From the recipe: With a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium speed for 1 minute, then increase to high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 more minutes. Add the sugar and salt, then continue beating on high speed until glossy stiff peaks form, about 2 more minutes. Spread meringue on top of filling. (I like to make decorative peaks with the back of a large spoon.) Make sure you spread the meringue all the way to the edges so that it touches the crust. This helps prevent the meringue from weeping.

Lemon Curd

For the lemon curd I used the Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie recipe from School Night Vegan.

– 300g sugar

– 65g corn flour/corn starch

– 1/8 tsp salt

– 235 ml oat milk (full fat)

– 115 ml water

– 235 ml lemon juice (I was able to use 4 large lemons)

– Zest of one unwaxed lemon (I used more bc I wanted it zesty)

– 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (pretty sure this is just for color)

– 15 g vegan butter

Instructions from the recipe: Combine all the ingredients besides the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium/low heat. Whisk constantly while the temperature raises. If you leave it for too long, the corn flour will curdle or burn, and that’s not good. After about 5 minutes you’ll notice the mixture start to thicken. Once thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and stir in the vegan butter. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

The Crust

For the crust, I just used a store bought graham cracker crust from Aldi.

Baking the pie

I blind baked my pie crust according to the instructions on the crust packaging.

I baked the constructed pie at 350F (177C). Recipe said to bake on the lowest position of the oven. For me, that is very much still the middle of the oven as it is a one rack oven that I’ve never been able to adjust, and it turned out beautifully.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. I checked on mine after 12 minutes to ensure the meringue wasn’t browning too quickly (it wasn’t). If it does brown too quickly, tent a piece of foil over your pie without touching the meringue. I checked on it again after another 12 minutes, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Let it cool on the counter for 1 hour (keeping a careful eye on the cats to ensure they’re not getting up to mischief), and then another 4 hours in the fridge to ensure it has set.

I thought these 5 hours of waiting would be unbearable, but I decided to play some Pokopia, and the wait time ended up actually only being 15 minutes 😉 AND Charmander has a beautiful new house.

Other Notes

I was shocked at how well the egg white powder whipped up. I’ve been vegan for nearly 8 years so it’s been a while since I’ve had meringue. I missed it. I didn’t expect it to taste just like it, but it does.

I have also tried making kind of an egg white scramble with some vegan cheese sprinkled in and that worked out really well.

When whipping the egg white powder, I really can’t imagine making it work without an electric handheld mixer (if you have managed to do it with an old fashioned whisk, I’m very impressed and maybe scared). A standing electric whisk probably works as well but I’ve not tried it. If you don’t have an electric whisk, and you want to use this egg white powder to make an omelette or something, I would try using a blender for a few seconds to really immerse the powder and the water. It will get frothy, just let it sit for a couple minutes before putting it on the pan, perhaps just while you wait for the pan to completely heat up.

If you’re not already aware, the way that it works (roughly) is that they precision ferment yeast, and that creates this powder that’s chemically the same as egg whites from chickens. Wild.

If you have any questions about these egg whites and my experience using them, don’t hesitate to ask! I’d also love suggestions for other things to attempt to make with them. If I try them, I’ll post my results here as well 🙂