Spring is in the Air!

I love this time of year! Everything is starting to bloom and it’s time to get ready for the hot months ahead. I live in Arizona so I know what hot feels like and let me tell you “It may be “dry” heat but anytime the thermometer reads 110 degrees, it is just plain hot!” Ah, but I digress……..Spring lasts about 2 weeks so I really enjoy the time I have to embrace it.

I’ve been cooking up a storm creating recipes for Easter and I was assigned dessert this year! I was so excited. I love desserts and I am always hopeful there will be leftovers because I will get to keep them. This year I decided the only way I could guarantee there would be left overs would be to make lots and lots of desserts. So …….I made a lemon meringue pie, a banana cream pie and coconut cream puffs.

I’ve had pretty good luck with banana cream pie so I wasn’t worried about that and I love cream puffs so I make them a lot but I have a real problem with meringue. I can get it to puff up on the pie but 2 hours later it is usually a wet puddle of meringue in the very center of the top of the pie. I figure the only way I could remedy that was to use a whole lot of meringue and maybe, just maybe if I used enough, it would cover the whole pie for a little bit longer. I only needed it to last overnight.

So I went to work. I used five egg whites and a little extra cream of tartar and luck was with me! My meringue was beautiful. Unfortunately the only pictures I have are on my phone and I can’t figure out how to download them to my blog so you’ll have to trust me on this one. Anyway here’s the recipe for my pie. Pictures will follow when my husband figures it out or maybe I will get my 9 year old niece to show me.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cornstarch

¼  teaspoon salt

1½  cups water

½ cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons butter

5 egg yolks, beaten

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked

5 egg whites

6 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees  

In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

  

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