Cooking With K-dog Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie
K-dog has been asking for a lemon meringue pie- my mom usually makes them for her. I remember that when I started baking I was about her age and it was lemon meringue pies- so I figured it was time for her to get started.

For the crust she did not want your typical pie crust, but the one on oowie gooey butter cake.

PIE CRUST

Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F.

1 small package biscuits (the Peruvian Margaritas are perfect for this)
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
Put the biscuits in a food processor and turn into crumbs. Put in a bowl add egg and melted butter to mix. Then press into the pie pan. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.


THE LEMON CUSTARD

Sift these into a saucepan
1 ½ cups sugar
6 tablespoons corn starch
¼ teaspoon salt

Slowly blend in:
½ cup cold water
½ cup fresh lemon juice

Add, blending well:
3 well beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter

Stirring continuously (so as not to make scrambled eggs in your custard) slowly add:
1 ½ cups boiling water

Bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring gently. (K-dog did not know what a boil looked like). As it thickens reduce the heat and allow to simmer slowly for 1 minute. Take off the heat and add
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Pour into the backed pie shell.

The Meringue- we do not have cream of tartar so I used a splash of white vinegar

Whip until frothy:
3 egg whites

Add a splash of vinegar or ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Whip the whites until they are stiff. Beat in 1 tablespoon at a time:
4 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (icing sugar).

Beat in
½ teaspoon vanilla.

Spread on pie and bake 10 to 15 minutes at 180 C or 350 F.