Friday, July 11, 2008

Lemon & Lime Meringue Pie


1 pre-baked pie shell

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
1 1/2 cups water

3 egg yolks, beaten

juice and zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime
3 tablespoons butter

3 egg whites
6 tablespoons sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the 1 cup of sugar and cornflour and put into a saucepan and add the water. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir a bit of the hot mixture into the egg yolks to temper, the mix the egg yolks in with the hot mixture. Return to the heat and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime and lemon juice and zest and the butter. Let sit for a little while to cool.

I think that this pie could be good with a graham cracker crust, but I haven't tried it yet. And when you make the curst you can reserve some of the crust for sprinkling on top of the meringue.

Make the meringue by beating the egg whites until nice and foamy, slowly add in the sugar. Beat until nice and thick and glossy, Then spoon onto the filling by dollops and even up nice and artistically. Make sure that the filling is not exposed. Put into the oven for maybe ten minutes or so to brown the top.

Cool completely before serving. This will take at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. More is better if you don't like surprises when you cut into the pie and thinking that maybe a bowl would be better than a plate.

Variation: I think that this pie could be very nice with a graham cracker crust - homemade of course. And when you make the crust set a little bit aside for sprinkling onto the meringue before baking.

For a really stupendous looking recipe like this one, but grander, see Peabody's lemon-lime tart.

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