mile high lemon meringue pie
 
There are 3 parts to any lemon meringue pie: the crust, the filling, and the meringue.
Ingredients
  • crust:
  • 1 baked 10” pie shell, cooled (can use recipe for a 9” pie shell; the crust will just be a bit thinner)
  • Note: Any recipe for pie crust will do, but if you don’t have one, you could check out Silver Palate’s New Basics Cookbook, page 785.
  • filling:
  • 2 ¼ cups sugar
  • 9 tablespoons cornstarch (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
  • ⅜ teaspoons salt
  • ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (Meyer’s preferred) about 4 lemons
  • ¾ cup cold water
  • 5 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 ¼ cup boiling water
  • 1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • meringue:
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch *
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 5 room temperature egg whites
  • 9 tablespoons sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. Prepare pie crust (see above), then cool.
  2. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
  3. filling:
  4. In a large heavy saucepan, thoroughly blend sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
  5. Separate the eggs. Set aside egg whites for meringue – they need to be room temperature for a successful meringue.
  6. In electric mixer or separate bowl, beat yolks, cold water, and lemon juice until smooth.
  7. Pour into dry ingredients and whisk until all ingredients are thoroughly blended and smooth.
  8. Add butter.
  9. Gradually pour boiling water over the mixture. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil that cannot be stirred down, stirring constantly using a wooden spoon.
  10. Boil for 1 ½ minutes. Be sure not to burn. Remove from heat.
  11. Stir in lemon zest.
  12. Cool while preparing meringue.
  13. meringue:
  14. Blend cornstarch and cold water in saucepan.
  15. Add boiling water and cook, stirring until clear and thickened. Let stand until completely cold.
  16. With electric beater at high-speed, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy.
  17. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff but not dry.
  18. Turn mixer to low-speed and add vanilla.
  19. Gradually beat in cold cornstarch mixture. Then, beat well on high-speed.
  20. Spread meringue over cooled pie, sealing it to edges of crust.
  21. Create peaks in the meringue with your spreader.
  22. Bake for about 10 minutes to brown the top.
  23. Cool completely on rack and then refrigerate.
  24. • Adding cornstarch to the meringue keeps the meringue from sticking to knife when cutting the pie.
Recipe by Food and Friendship at https://www.foodandfriendshipsantabarbara.com/2012/01/24/citrus/