I love lemon meringue pie. It is like eating spoonful’s of joy . The poet Edgar Guest seems to share my affinity in his 1917 poem titled Lemon Pie. Allow me to share it with you as you savor the beauty found in this pie through this authors poetical painting. I could only hope my lemon pie could have this affect on my children’s little troubles. I’d like to think it does. There is just something so special about sharing homemade pie with those you love.
Lemon Pie
by: Edgar Guest
The world is full of gladness,
There are joys of many kinds,
There’s a cure for every sadness,
That each troubled mortal finds.
And my little cares grow lighter
And I cease to fret and sigh,
And my eyes with joy grow brighter
When she makes a lemon pie.
When the bronze is on the filling
That’s one mass of shining gold,
And its molten joy is spilling
On the plate, my heart grows bold
And the kids and I in chorus
Raise one glad exultant cry
And we cheer the treat before us
Which is mother’s lemon pie.
Then the little troubles vanish,
And the sorrows disappear,
Then we find the grit to banish
All the cares that hovered near,
And we smack our lips in pleasure
O’er a joy no coin can buy,
And we down the golden treasure
Which is known as lemon pie.
Mile High Lemon Pie
Equipment
- deep dish pie pan
Ingredients
- 1 each pie crust see notes for a link to my favorite homemade crust. You can use store bought if desired.
For the lemon filling
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 3 tbsp flour
- 6 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups milk
- 3 lemons zest use lemons for juice as well
- 1/2 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
- 3 tbsp butter
- 6 each egg yolks reserve whites for meringue
For the meringue
- 3/4 cup water
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 6 each egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
- 1 pinch salt generous
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the crust
- Place pie crust in deep dish pie pan. Pierce bottom of unbaked pie crust with tines of a fork to prevent crust from bubbling up. Bake pie crust until golden, approximately 25 minutes. Decrease oven to 325 degrees (this is for the final step of browning the meringue on your finished pie).
Prepare the lemon filling
- Separate your eggs:Separate egg whites from egg yolks, placing yolks in a medium sized bowl and whites in a small dish to be used during preparation of the meringue. Be very careful not to get any yolk in your whites in the separation process or it will impact your meringue. The whites work best at room temperature, so leave them on the counter as you prepare the lemon filling.
- Prepare the lemon/cornstarch mixture:In a medium saucepan, add 1.5 cups of sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Stir in milk, lemon juice and lemon zest until well mixed. Cook over medium high heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently. Once mixture boils, stir in butter until melted. Your mixture should be a nice gel like consistency at this point. Remove from heat.
- Incorporate the lemon/cornstarch mixture with your egg yolks.:Begin by slowly adding 1 tablespoon at a time of hot lemon/cornstarch mixture to the yolks and whisk together. Continue adding mixture to the yolks until about 1/2 of the mixture is left in the pan.
- Whisk egg yolk mixture back into the pan with remaining lemon/cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until thick. Remove from heat.
Prepare the meringue
- Prepare the water/cornstarch mixture:In a small saucepan, combine water, 3 tablespoons of sugar and cornstarch. Cook over low heat until transparent, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
- Now for the egg whites. For this step you can use a kitchen mixer or large glass bowl and electric mixer. Beat egg whites, cream of tarter and salt until foamy. Add in vanilla, and gradually add in 1/2 cup sugar (1 spoonful at a time), beating constantly. Once soft peaks are formed, gradually pour in cornstarch mixture. Beat mixture until stiff peaks form. Note: Soft peaks barely hold their shape when lifted with a spoon. They will flop back over themselves. Stiff peaks will keep their shape and stand straight up when spoon is lifted. pread over top of pie and seal to the crust. Brown in oven if desired.
Pie Assembly
- Warm the lemon filling again. Once warm, place into baked pie shell.
- Working quickly, spread meringue evenly over top of pie using a rubber spatula. Be sure to seal the meringue to the crust, this helps to keep the meringue from shrinking towards the center of your pie.
- Using the back of a spoon, create peaks all over the meringue. The meringue will be mile high full of peaks and valleys.
- Place finished pie in preheated 325 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes. This step is to get your peaks golden brown. Watch them closely so they don't burn.
- Allow pie to cool at room temperate for 1 hour. Store in the fridge.
Notes
Recipe coming soon... Raw eggs and salmonella:
The dietitian in me has to make a salmonella disclaimer regarding the use of raw egg whites in this recipe. Salmonella bacteria can be found in raw eggs. According to the CDC, salmonella is destroyed when eggs are heated to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F or hotter. The CDC recommends using pasteurized eggs for any foods that contain raw or lightly cooked eggs - this would include meringue. Pasteurized egg whites are available in the egg section of your grocery store. I personally do not use pasteurized egg whites in this recipe. However, if I was making this for someone who is immune compromised (this includes pregnant women and the elderly) I would go the pasteurized route. Soft versus Stiff Peaks:
If you need a quick tutorial on the difference between soft and stiff peaks, hop on over to Fine Cooking. Recipe adapted from: Simply Recipes and All Recipes