Half Baked

Lemon Meringue Pie is my favorite pie of all time. (However, my Deep Dish Plum Pie is gaining some ground…I’ll share that recipe at a later date.)

Since it’s getting warmer and the sun is shining so brightly today, I was in the mood to bake a nice summery pie.  Instead of making one big pie, however, I decided to make 4 individual ones using my mini cheesecake spring form pans.

I started with my basic pie crust recipe and pressed the dough up the sides of the pans, baked them until golden, and then once they cooled, I removed the cheesecake pan. I highly recommend removing it at this step, because if  the meringue is baked on before  you remove the pans, it is disastrous. Take my word for it.

I boiled the custard mixture, added my eggs, stirred for 4 more minutes, then finally turned off the heat and added butter and lemon juice.  This time I added half fresh squeezed lemon juice and half bottled lemon because I wasn’t sure if I would like it with 100% fresh squeezed, although I had heard otherwise. On my recipe I have in bold, underlined words. "REAL LEMON!!" And, by real lemon I did not mean actual real lemons from the tree, I meant the fake bottled kind called Real Lemon. So, I was a bit scared to do 100% fresh juice, even though I knew better.  It turned out great, but next time I will without a doubt use a full amount of the freshly squeezed lemon juice.

My meringue always turns out, in fact I'm not quite sure why people are so afraid of it. I like my meringue high, and I love the little toasted brown tips the best.

I love watching how the egg whites start as nothing, and just because you whip some air into them, they start to take form. With the addition of some sugar and cream of tartar, Viola! You’ve got meringue beautiness. Yes that's a word.

And, the final product tasted as great as it looked.

The only unfortunate part is that no one in my family, except my dad, likes Lemon Meringue Pie, which means I end up eating a lot of it, or in this case, giving it away to anyone who will take it.

In this mini form, it is much easier to share anyway.

Here’s my recipe…

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

2 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

mix the above well, and then add

1/2 cup oil
2 T. milk

Form into a ball and press into pie pan. Bake at 475 for 10 minutes, or until edges are just turning brown. Be sure to press sides of dough up the edge of pie pan.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 1/2 T. cornstarch

3 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 cup hot water

3 slightly beaten egg yolks, save the 3 remaining egg whites for the meringue

2 T butter, cut into squares

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt. Gradually blend in the water. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir for 8 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolks to temper. Return this to remaining hot mixture. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Cook and stir 4 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Add butter. Gradually add the lemon juice. Cover entire mixture with plastic wrap, being sure to press the wrap directly onto the surface of the custard. Cool for 10-15 minutes. Pour into cooled pie shell, and allow to come to room temperature.

Meringue

Beat the remaining 3 egg whites with 1 t. lemon juice until soft peaks form. Gradually add 6 T sugar and 1/4 t. cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Spread meringue over pie, being sure to seal the edges to the pastry. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden. Cool thoroughly before serving.

Christy Beauchot Smith is the owner and creator of www.dipstickspretzels.com. She and her husband, Mark, are the parents of two sons, Jacob and Joshua.