SARAH'S LEMON MERINGUE PIE by Saundra Stroud

This recipe was in the magazine At Home Tennessee.  Stacy McSpadden was gracious enough to give me a copy of the March issue. I have many, many Lemon Meringue Pie recipes.  However, I'm always open for a new one.  I made this for Easter dinner and it really was delicious.  To me it was smooth and was good and tart. 

 

 

Sarah's Lemon Meringue Pie

  

Meringue:

5 egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

4 T. cornstarch

1 1/2 cups water, divided

4 T. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups sugar

lemon zest from one lemon

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice  ( I got exactly this amount from two lemons)

2 T. butter

4 egg yolks, slightly beaten, at room temperature

 

9-inch pie crust, baked until golden brown

 

For those of you who do not like meringue you can always use a whipped cream topping (of course homemade)

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

1. Place the egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl and place the bowl in a pan of water.  Stir until the whites feel warm and add the salt.  Remove the bowl from the water bath and beat with an electric mixter until the meringue is stiff and shiny.  Reserve.

 

Lemon Filling:

2.  Preheat oven to broil.

 

3.  Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup of the water to form slurry, place in pan and add flour, salt, sugar and remaining water.  Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly for 3 minutes or until quite thick---it should hold well on a wooden spoon.  Remove from heat.

 

4.  Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and butter.

 

5.   Stir 1/2 cup of the hot mixture into the beaten eggs very quickly.  Add the egg mixture back into the saucepan  and stir over the heat for another 3 minutes.  Remove and cool a bit.

.

6.  Spread into the prepared pie crust. 

 

7.  Spread warm meringue over the filling making sure meringue touches all sides of the crust.  Use spreader to make peaks in the meringue.

 

8.  With oven door open. place pie under broiler and brown the meringue a little.  This happens very quickly so watch carefully.

 

9.  Cool and serve.

 

If you are doing the whipped topping, spread on top of pie and refrigerate.

 

This seems like a lot of steps, but actually when you are assembling it, it is very simple and easy.