Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat....said no one in this house. This is a tangy pie that is light, and melts in your mouth. It's a bit tricky to make, but uses ingredients that are usually readily available in the kitchen, so you can practice it over and over again. I got this recipe from my mom's cookbook, "It's All About the Recipe"  Start cooking early in the day, as the cooling time takes 5 hours.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 baked pie crust (homemade is best!)

Filling
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (Meyer lemons that makes the pie SUPER lemony, my personal preference)
3 eggs separated, egg yolks slightly beaten
2 T butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 tsp. grated lemon zest.

Make sure your pie crust is baked, cool and set aside.  Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Gradually blend in water and lemon juice.  When smooth, stir in slightly beaten egg yolks and butter.  Stirring constantly, stir in boiling water.  When combined, set heat to medium and bring mixture to a full boil.  Whisk the boiling mixture over medium heat until it thickens, about 5 minutes, maybe longer.  When thick, stop whisking, reduce heat and let the lemon mixture simmer for one minute.  Off heat, whisk lemon zest, and then pour mixture into baked pie shell. 

For Meringue*
3 egg whites (reserved from filling ingredients)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Use an electric mixer for this process.  Make sure that your mixing bowl, and beaters are dry, dry, dry.  Put egg whites in the mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium-low speed so the egg whites get broken down and frothy.  Add cream of tartar and vanilla, and keep whisking until the egg whites start to turn completely white and foamy.   Increase speed to high, and add sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time.  Beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks.  This means that when you pull the beaters out of the egg whites they form a point.  Not a curled point, a straight up POINT.  

These are STIFF PEAKS!

It takes a lot of time to get stiff peaks, but too much time and your egg whites will fall, and they cannot be saved.  When you reach stiff peaks, carefully mound the meringue on top of the lemon pie filling.  Smooth meringue over the top of the pie, making sure the meringue is completely spread all the way to the edge of the pie.  NO lemon pie filling should be showing.   Bake pie until meringue is nicely browned, about 10 minutes.   Remove pie from oven and let cool 5 hours.

*I like a lot of meringue, so I tend to double the meringue recipe.  The pictures associated with this recipe are with 6 egg whites rather than 3.  With the extra egg yolks make a half batch of lemon curd.

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