Pie and Purchases

NO SPEND day 48. Check.

Lemon meringue pie. Check.

To do list for today. Check.

I'm now adding "eat pie" to the to do list.

Average daily spending for July: $18.66

I've always had it in my mind that I couldn't make a meringue pie from scratch.
I'm so proud of this little baby!

recipe by request
ingredients
grated rind and juice of one large lemon
1 cup plus 1 Tbls. cold water
1/2 cup plus 6 Tbls. sugar
2 Tbls. butter
3 Tbls. cornstarch
3 eggs, separated
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
for the crust
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup cold shortening
(I used 7 Tbls. butter instead)
2 Tbls. ice water

For the crust: sift flour and salt into a bowl. Add the shortening and cut in with a pastry blender (which I don't have so I used a biscuit cutter) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With a fork, stir in just enough water to bind the dough. Gather dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface roll dough out about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Fold overhang under and crimp edge. (I'm not a pro pie crust maker so I didn't have an overhang but hey, still tasted great). Refrigerate the pie shell for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Prick the crust all over with fork and bake for 20 minutes. (You're supposed to line with wax paper and use pie weights for 12 of the 20 minutes but, seriously, pie weights... yeah, no, not in my cupboard).

For the filling: In a saucepan, combine lemon rind and juice, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 2 Tbls. butter. Bring mixture to boil. In a mixing bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1 Tbls. water (or more like turn the cornstarch into a solid) and add the egg yolks. Add the egg yolk mixture to the lemon mixture and return to boil (I whisked the egg yolk mixture in knowing that the eggs would cook instantly and I didn't want clumps) while whisking continuously until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. (it took 2 for me)

For the meringue: Using an electric mixer (I have a cheap handheld one) beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until they hold stiff peaks. Add 6 Tbls. sugar and beat until glossy.

Spoon the lemon mixture into the pie shell and spread level. Spoon the meringue on top, smoothing it to the edges to seal. Bake until golden, 12-15 minutes.

This pie did take a little time to prepare but was surprisingly way more easy than I'd imagined it'd be. I also thought there'd be several steps with huge potential for failure but I don't feel that was the case at all. Okay, so my pie crust ended up being quite ugly but the pie overall turned out awesome. And I actually had cream of tartar in my cupboard. That was the only odd ingredient that I feel someone might need to go out and get specific for this recipe. I bought it years ago for something else and never used it. It was still sealed so hopefully sealed cream of tartar doesn't spoil :-)