Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A January Birthday Favorite!


January...

while everyone around us is making resolutions to eat better, go on a diet etc...we have several family birthdays that come the first 2 weeks of January and so we are all still eating yummy treats that come along with birthdays.
January 11th means
Lemon Meringue Pie!

Tracy's mom's birthday

is on this day and Lemon Meringue Pie is her favorite and so that is what gets made on 1-11 each year!

Tracy and I are really going to have to get extra walking in this week as we ate 1/2 a lemon pie together. It was SO succulent and yummy and worth every amount of calories we consumed!!

Now to share this yummyness and how it is made.

BTW---January means Citrus Sales at the store and lemons are usually 3 for $1.00 and so for $1.00 you have enough lemon juice to make 2 pies.

Preparation...
--make and bake pie crusts
--grate lemon
--slice and juice lemon
--separate egg yolks/whites

The filling...
--add boiling water to dry ingredients
--boil until thick
--quickly stir in lemon/egg yolk mixture
--pour into pie shell

Lemon Meringue Pie
(1) 9 inch baked pie shell (click here for crust recipe)
1 ½ cups sugar

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups boiling water

3 egg yolks

1/3 cup lemon juice
(1-1/2 lemons juiced)
1 Tablespoon grated lemon rind

3 egg whites(for meringue)


Combine dry ingredients in heavy saucepan.
Add water slowly, stirring until smooth.
Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils, stirring constantly.
Stir small amounts of hot mixture into egg yolk, lemon juice and lemon rind.
Quickly stir into hot mixture.
Reduce heat to low and cook slowly, stirring for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Pour into pie shell.
Top with meringue and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

(Meringue)
3 egg whites

¼ teaspoon cream of tarter

6 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat egg whites with cream of tarter until frothy.
Gradually beat in sugar a little at a time. Add vanilla.
Continue beating until stiff and glossy.
Pile meringue onto pie being careful to “seal” meringue onto edge of crust to prevent shrinking. (Filling exposed to heat will “weep”).
Swirl or point top for design.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until delicately browned. Cool slowly away from draft.

Enjoy!

"Seize the moment.
Remember all those women
on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart".

~Erma Bombeck

10 comments:

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

That kind of a pie looks way too hard and intimidating to make!
Love it, afraid to make it.
Kind of a good thing cause I'm still doing good with the New Years Resolution thing.
The meringe looks so decadent. That's the part that looks so hard, oh, and the pie crust. Pie crust ninja skills allude me.
Sigh.
You are so amazing! How do you do it all?

Ann Marie said...

This was my great Grandma's specialty.. and I tried it.. and FAILED. EPIC FAIL.
It was so bad.. I won't even attempt pies again unless I have a friend THERE in my kitchen going through the steps with me...

Those lemons.. and your pie are making my mouth water. Your right.. just the look of the picture is giving me calorie intake I'm sure...

I'm going to try and send you an e-mail soon. :)

BJ said...

Your pie looks so delicious. I've always wanted to learn how to make a pie like this. Your recipe looks so yummy with the fresh lemons. Thanks for sharing.

wileyfamilyof5 said...

Definately going to make this. I havn't had lemon merangue for so long. Everything you make always turns out amazing.

Mel

Valerie said...

My Grandma used to make the BEST lemon meringue pie! I have her recipe, but have never tried making it. I'll have to give it a whirl!

CB said...

I think you are SO Sweet to make your mother in law her favorite pie each year! What a treat and I am sure she looks forward to it :D

Sondra said...

Lemon meringue is my favorite pie. I've only made it once by myself. But my pie never looked like that. The meringue makes it look beautiful. Yum! I always love the fresh taste of Lemon pie - it doesn't taste fattening - so I think it should be fine to eat a 1/2 of pie. Easy to do. Happy Birthday Mother-in-law. Cool that her birthday is 1-11-10 this year.

Brenda said...

Our neighbor just told us we could have ALL the lemons we want off their tree...My husband LOVES lemon meringe pie!...so now I have a GOLDEN receipe (tried and true...all of your receipes all in my GOLDEN pile!) I'm going to try it...I'll let you know how it turns out!

Connie said...

Oh that looks delicious!! I found lemons at a local store that were 6 for a $1.00! I didn't buy any!! Love the quote! I'm going to bake your apple muffins today! I'll let you know how they turn out.

Brittany H said...

...Or just give me a copy of your blog book or something. haha just kidding. Looks scrumptious! I don't remember if I've ever tried LM pie. It just never looks that good but this my friend looks more than edible. It looks divine!