Pie in the Sky

It's Daring Baker time again! I was pretty excited when I saw the challenge this month. It's something that I've never made the "real" thing; I also thought, "Too bad Daddy doesn't live near me anymore...he love this dessert." What is it...this challenge this month was lemon meringue pie! The form I have always had is the the form made with sweetened condensed milk. Still good, but I guess more of the semi-homemade form. At the beginning of the month I had hoped to make this for a get together with friends. Weeeelllllll, both of my options for that fizzled out and I was left wondering who I would make this pie for. Cue chimes! My parents came to town this weekend for a wedding and I got to make the pie for them...so, Daddy ended up getting to try it. Making the pie took longer than I thought, only because I didn't read the instructions before I started. The most time consuming part was the crust because it requires two sets of chilling and two sets of baking. Other than that, this was actually easier than I thought. The crust for the pie is more of a shortbread, which I love even though it has so much butter! I decided to use my food processor that I got for Christmas to make the crust...LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the food processor! The dough was kind of hard to roll with the rolling pin; so, once I got it to a decent thickness, I just placed it in the pie plate and pressed it out. I don't know if that is why, but after the second baking, the center of the crust had puffed up quite a bit. It didn't really have any detrimental effect on the pie but kind of had me worried at first. On to the custard. SO much easier than I thought. To me, the hardest part was juicing the lemons as I don't have a juicer yet. I was concerned that the lemon wouldn't be strong enough. HA! This had such a strong, wonderful lemon taste. And the meringue...I love meringue. It turned out perfectly. I wish I hadn't cooked it quite as long as I did, but it still tasted fine and was nice and tall. Time to serve it up!!! What did my reviewers think? Mama really liked the crust, while Daddy says he prefers his Mama's (a traditional, thinner pie crust). I think that the thinner crust would be really leaky and probably wouldn't hold up to the moisture of this filling. Daddy just loved the pie as a whole. He thought the lemon flavor was really strong but was not disappointed in that. The texture of the custard was perfect. Daddy even went back for seconds! He said to give this pie glowing reviews! I enjoyed the pie, too. Lemon is one of those completely refreshing flavors that I just love. Honestly, this is probably the first recipe that I've made as a Daring Baker that I would say I'd like to make again. Thanks for choosing this recipe, Jen!!! WONDERFUL! If you want to see other DBs and their pies, check out the blogroll here. Lemon Meringue Pie (from "Wanda's Pie in the Sky" by Wanda Beaver)

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:

3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter, cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm)

2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar

1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt

1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water

To Make the Crust:

Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

For the Filling:

2 cups (475 mL) water

1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch

5 egg yolks, beaten (save the whites for meringue)

1/4 cup (60 mL) butter

3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice (this was about 5 lemons for me)

1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

To Make the Filling:

Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick.

Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

For the Meringue:

5 egg whites, room temperature (mine were cold and worked fine), use the white from the yolks used in the custard

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract

3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

To Make the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.