Black Pepper and Grapefruit Meringue Pie Recipe

Every week, we’re spotlighting a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Below, Tim Mazurek of Lottie + Doof shares a tart grapefruit pie recipe from one of his favorite bakers, Lisa Ludwinski of Sister Pie in Detroit.

Photo by Tim Mazurek

I ate a lot of good food on our recent trip to Detroit, but the best thing I ate was the pie from Sister Pie. I’d heard about them through one of their bakers, who kindly wrote and offered me some advice when she heard I was traveling to Detroit. At the time, you ordered pies online and picked them up from the charming Parker Street Market. But soon Sister Pie will have their own beautiful shop, thanks to one amazing dance party, lots of hard work, and the support of the community. It is one of many reasons that I will soon return to Detroit.

I asked Sister Pie’s owner, head baker, and dancing machine, Lisa Ludwinski to share her recipe for Black Pepper Grapefruit Meringue Pie. (It is as good as it sounds!)

Black Pepper Grapefruit Meringue Pie
By Lisa Ludwinski, owner of Sister Pie
Makes 1 pie

For the crust:

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into chunks
2 to 5 tablespoons ice water mixed with a splash of apple cider vinegar

For the grapefruit filling:

¼ cup sugar
Zest from 1 grapefruit*
112 grams (roughly 7.5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup honey
¼ cup cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
¾ cup heavy cream
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ cup grapefruit juice (see note below)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the meringue:

75 grams (roughly 5 tablespoons) sugar
2 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
Black pepper, to taste

Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut in the butter until it resembles coarse meal. It’s okay if the butter bits are different sizes, so long as none of them are larger than peas. At this point, add the ice water a tablespoon at a time and begin to gather the dough together. Turn the dough over itself a few times, but be careful not to overwork it. Pat the dough into a round disc and wrap in plastic to chill for a couple hours (or at least 30 minutes).

Make the filling: Measure the sugar into a medium bowl. Zest the grapefruit directly into the sugar and proceed to massage the sugar/zest mixture with your fingertips until it feels and looks like wet sand. Add melted butter, cornmeal, honey, and salt and whisk until no lumps remain. Gently whisk in eggs and yolks, followed by heavy cream, black pepper, and citrus juices.

Roll out pie crust: Flour your work surface and place the unwrapped pie dough in the center. Using your favorite rolling pin (I prefer a French tapered pin), press along the edges of the round, broadening the circle. You can move the disc around with your hand as you do this, making sure to flour the surface again when needed. Begin to flatten the pie dough into a larger circle by rolling from the center out. Roll, then rotate the disc and roll again. Remember to keep flouring the surface as needed. You can flip the disc and repeat this process until you have a circle of even thickness, about 12 inches in diameter. Invert your pie tin or dish onto the circle, and use a pastry cutter (a knife works, too!) to trim the dough, leaving about a 1-inch border around the tin. Remove the pie tin, place the dough into the pie tin, and gently press it in, making sure it’s centered and fitted properly. To create a crimped edge: roll up the dough overhang towards the center of the pie, creating a ring of dough. Use the thumb and index finger of one hand to make a “V” and use the index finger of your other hand to press into the “V”, making a crimp. Continue until the entire ring of dough is crimped.

Freeze the crust for at least 15 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 425°F.

Blind-bake the crust: Remove the crimped crust from the freezer and line the inside with a big square of aluminum foil, making sure to wrap it around and under the crimping. Fill completely with dried beans or pie weights. Place on baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven. Turn oven temperature down to 325°F. Allow crust to cool for five minutes, then carefully remove foil/weights.

Bake the pie: Brush the crimped edges of pie crust with a simple egg wash (1 egg, beaten). Pour filling into shell. Transfer the pie to the oven and bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until edges are just set but center is still quite jiggly. It will continue to bake as it cools. Over-baking will cause the filling to separate.

Make the meringue: In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together sugar, egg whites, and salt. Place over a pot of simmering water and gently whisk until the temperature on an instant-read thermometer reads 140°F.

Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and turn on high, whisking until the bowl cools down and you’ve got a big ol’ glossy meringue with stiff peaks. Gently dollops the meringue onto the cooled pie, and use an offset spatula to spread evenly.

At this point, you can set your oven to broil or bust out your kitchen torch. If going the oven route, simply pop the pie in the oven for about 4 minutes or until you see the tops of the meringue getting all toasty. Remove from oven and generously grind black pepper all over the pie. Cool completely before slicing.

Note: The grapefruit I had was pink, and unusually sweet. I ended up reducing the grapefruit juice by a tablespoon or so and compensating with extra lemon juice to tart things up. They sure don’t make grapefruits like they used to.

More pies to love:

Sweet and tart rhubarb-strawberry lattice pie

Creamy coconut cream pie that just happens to be gluten-free

Beautifully marbled sweet potato and cream cheese pie

What’s your favorite pie? Tell us below!