The Best Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

These delicious and adorable pies are great for a crowd!

Ingredients:

Min Pie Shells (I used frozen ones but you can make them yourself)

For the Filling:

*If not using lemon cook and serve pudding*

One box of Vanilla Cook and Serve Pudding

1 can of Lemon Pie Filling

2 Lemons, juiced and zested

1-2 TSP Vanilla Extract

For the Meringue:

4 Egg Whites at Room Temp. 

1/2 TSP Cream of Tartar 

1 TSP Vanilla Extract 

1/2 C White Sugar 

Step 1: 

Before making the filling, pull your pie shells out of the freezer and lay them out on a cookie sheet to thaw before baking.

Take your four eggs and separate them, let them sit so when you need them they will be room temperature. 

Step 2:  Making the filling

*If you have a lemon cook and serve pudding, feel free to make that instead and move on to the next step*

Start by making 1 mall box of vanilla cook and serve pudding and set it aside.

Take 1 can of lemon pie filling and put it in a bowl.  With a hand mixer, whip it until it's all smooth.  

Add the vanilla pudding to the lemon filling and combine.  

Juice and zest 2 lemons and add that to your bowl along with 1-2 TSP of vanilla extract.

Set the lemon filling aside and well start on the rest of our pies, 

*Don't put the filling in the fridge, we want it semi warm when we put the meringue on*

Step 3:  Prepping the Pie Shells

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and pop your pie shells in until they are a light golden brown color.  Don't let them get to dark because they will have to go back into the oven later.

Step 4: Making the Meringue 

 

Start by mixing your egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla in a mixer until you have soft peaks forming.

Once you have soft peaks, add your sugar a TBSP at a time, mix in between every time you add sugar.

Once all your sugar is added, let it mix a little longer!

Make sure you have super stiff peaks!  Once you have the desired texture, we can move on to assembling the pies.

Step 5:  Assembling the Pies

Start by adding your lemon pie filling into a Ziploc bag, cut off a tiny tip and fill your pies to the top.  Careful to not cut a big hole because the filling will come out really fast!

Add your meringue to a Ziploc or piping bag.  I put a french tip on mine to make it look a little nicer.  

Squeeze at the bottom, pull up really fast and you will get a nice little tip like this!

Step 6: Final Touches

                                               

Pop your pies in the oven one last time until the meringue is nice and golden.  You can check to make sure it is cooked with a food thermometer.

These are best chilled but you can eat them any way you'd like.  Enjoy!

The Outcome

I LOVED these!  I took them to an activity and they were gone before I could get to them, good thing I had one before!  They are pretty easy to make, they just take time.  The meringue was light and fluffy and had a nice flavor.  The flavors blended together so nicely. I'm definitely going to be making these again!