Lemon Meringue Pie

When my children were growing up their Grandma Shippee baked pies for all our family holidays.  One of her best was Lemon Meringue.  When she died, my daughter Starlene started baking pies; and one of her specialties is apple pie.  When I bake pie it is usually lemon meringue (or even lime meringue) because in California we have a very fruitful lemon tree (huge lemons) and a tree that bears very flavorful limes.  This recipe comes from one of my wedding gifts in 1969--Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Mix in a double boiler top

            4 Tablespoons cornstarch

            4 Tablespoons flour

            ½ teaspoon salt

            1 ½ cups sugar

Add

            1 ½ cups boiling water

Cook and stir over direct heat until mixture boils.  Set over hot water, cover, and cook 20 minutes.  Add

            1 Tablespoon butter

            Few gratings lemon rind (lemon zest)

            1/3 cups lemon juice

            4 egg yolks

Cook and stir until thick.  Cool. 

Prepare and cool 9-inch baked pie shell.  Cool.

Using 4 egg whites make meringue.

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and then gradually add 4 Tablespoons sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla and continue beating until stiff peaks form, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.

Fold 2 Tablespoons into the lemon filling and pile into the shell.  Spoon the rest on top.  If you have a bit of lemon zest left, sprinkle it over the meringue.  Bake at 425ºF until delicately brown (5 minutes).  Completely cool pie before cutting.

My two eldest grandchildren, Guillaume and Tzarina, made this with me for Christmas dinner 2012.  Their Shahbaba claims it is "the best I ever ate!"