Apple Pie with Meringue

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tart shell

1. 1
   Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl.

   Bowl
2. 2
   Add the cold butter in cubes and rub it in with your fingertips, until coarse crumbs form.

   💡The butter must stay cold: butter that melts in your hands gives a hard dough instead of a crumbly one. Work quickly, and if the dough warms up, put it back in the fridge.
3. 3
   Add the egg and quickly bring together with your hands, without kneading, just until the dough comes together.

   💡Knead as little as possible: long kneading develops gluten, and the dough comes out tough and shrinks in the oven.
4. 4
   Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.

   ⚙ Wrapping and Chilling the DoughPlastic wrapRefrigerator

   💡Chilling firms the butter and relaxes the gluten: the dough rolls out easily, doesn't stick to the counter and doesn't shrink in the oven.
5. 5
   Roll out the dough and line a 24 cm pie pan with it, sides included. Prick the bottom with a fork.

   ⚙ Rolling Out DoughRolling pin

   💡Roll from the center outward and give the dough a quarter turn between rolls: this keeps it even in thickness and stops it sticking to the counter. If it springs back, cover for 10–15 minutes and try again.
6. 6
   Top with parchment paper and weights (or dried beans) and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (355°F) for 15 minutes.

   Parchment paperOvenTart / pie pan

   💡The weights keep the dough from puffing up and shrinking from the sides: without them the bottom bubbles and the shell comes out lopsided.

To assemble

1. 7
   In a bowl, mix the apples, sugar and cinnamon.

   Bowl
2. 8
   Fill the shell with the filling and level it.
3. 9
   Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (355°F) 20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles.

   ⚙ BakingOvenTart / pie pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
4. 10
   Whip' the egg whites' on medium speed, until it starts to foam.

   ⚙ WhippingBowlHand mixerorStand mixer

   💡Whip egg whites in a clean, dry bowl, without a drop of yolk.
5. 11
   Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, without stopping the mixer, and whip about 5 more minutes, until the foam is white, glossy and very stiff.

   Hand mixerorStand mixer

   💡The sugar goes in slowly, only after the egg whites are already foamy: sugar added all at once weighs down the foam, and the meringue never reaches full volume and gloss.
6. 12
   Spread the meringue over the filling with a spoon, in swirls, until it is completely covered.
7. 13
   Bake 10 minutes, until the meringue is golden.

   ⚙ BakingOvenTart / pie pan