Roll out pie crust to fit 10 inch pie pan. Crimp pie crust edges with your fingers for a finished look. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pierce the bottom of pie crust with a fork; pierce randomly around the bottom of the crust. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pie crust. Place a 9 inch pie pan on top of parchment paper and pie crust. Put pie pan in oven on low rack and bake for 12 minutes. Remove pie pan from oven. Remove 9 inch pie pan and parchment paper from pie crust. Reduce oven to 400 degrees. Put pie crust back into the oven and bake 10 minutes until lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool.
Reduce oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, add egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar plus 3 Tablespoons sugar and mix on medium until light yellow and creamy. Stir in lemon juice. Add water to medium saucepan, place over high heat and bring to a boil. While water is coming to a boil, take one fresh lemon and grate 2 1/2 teaspoons lemon rind on small grating section of vegetable/cheese grater. Put aside. Place medium bowl with egg yolk mixture on top of medium saucepan with boiling water. Reduce heat to medium high. Stir constantly with large spoon until egg yolk mixture is thick and coats the back of the spoon. About 10 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon rind. Remove from heat and reserve 1/3 cup of lemon mixture.
In another medium bowl, place egg whites and pinch of salt. Beat with hand mixer or whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sugar until stiff peaks form. About 3 minutes. Beat in remaining 1 teaspoon lemon rind.
Gently fold 1/2 the stiff egg whites into warm lemon filling. Pour lemon filling into prepared pie crust. Bake on center rack for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Filling should be firm to the touch and slightly soft in the center. Increase oven to 400 degrees. Gently top pie with remaining egg whites and swirl with back of spoon to create decorative peaks. Place lemon pie with egg whites back into the oven on center rack. Bake about 5 minutes until egg whites, meringue, is slightly browned. Remove from oven and drizzle remaining lemon filling over hot lemon meringue pie. Cool pie in refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.
Helpful hints:
Look for shiney yellow, blemish-free lemons. The lemons should have a slight give to them when squeezed gently. To get the most juice from the lemon, place the lemon on a hard surface, like a kitchen counter top, and with the palm of your hand firmly roll the lemon back and forth several times.
You can find fresh lemon juice in a carton in the freezer section of the grocery store; typically next to the frozen orange juice. Do not use reconstituted lemon juice because it will make the pie taste bitter.
When grating the lemon rind, only grate the yellow outer layer of the lemon rind. This is a very thin layer. Do not grate into the white of the rind. The yellow part of the rind has the lemon oils and the white part of the rind is bitter.
The grated, leftover lemon can be sliced and used as a garnish for the pie or stored in a plastic storage bag in the refrigerator to use later.
Or slice the grated, leftover lemon into 1/2 moon slices then quarter and placed in an ice cube tray. Fill the ice cube tray with water and freeze for lemon ice cubes.
To form stiff peaks, beat egg whites in a glass or metal bowl. A plastic bowl will prevent the egg whites from forming stiff peaks.
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