One of the pies I have been most anxious to bake is a lemon meringue pie. Not only have I never thought to make one, I've actually never tried one, either. I know, shocking. Ok, a little history about me: I do try new things sporadically (including adventurous things), but for the most part I stick to what I like and know is good. Same sushi, same ice cream, same pie. Same, same, same. I don't enjoy lemonade but I do love lemon bars. My wonderful mother came to help me with my little gerbils (an endearing nick-name by a random stranger...love it) and brought some perfectly ripe strawberries for the boys and me. I thought..lemonade..strawberry lemonade..why not? oh, my love of complicating things.
But I'm getting ahead of myself again. For some inexplicable reason I assumed a lemon meringue pie would be a gooey cloying mess with a hard shell. It's sooo not. It's tangy but sweet with a pillowy meringue and flaky and perfectly contrasting crust. I was in heaven..and ate about 3 slices in 2 days. Got a thumbs up from the husband and kids (though those thumbs haven't quite discovered their fine motor dexterity...so my confirmation came from them repeating "moae, moae" until I gave in). Hubby even had more than one slice which is amazing since the man doesn't even like soda. Sugar HATER! And the strawberry addition verdict: take it or leave it.
Part of my success with this was a utilization of Meyer lemons. They are a milder, sweeter version of a regular lemon, and is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. They look and smell like lemon candy and produce a juice demanding less sugar to tone down the tart.
Three things that need to improve:
- Crust. Taste was good but this pie requires a thicker crust to offset the tart factor. Will use more than normally required next time.
- Filling. I was too anxious to try the pie and didn't allow the filling to set which was partially the reason for it "goo-ing" out when I sliced. Another is cooking and baking it enough; I suspect it needed to set more fully in the oven and on the stove. Also I had those wonderful strawberries in there so they could have caused some unwanted juicy-ness. Picky, picky pie.
- Meringue. Though light and perfectly browned, I got apprehensive beating the eggs (a must-be in baking pies is a complete lack of fear) and only did to soft-peak...would have liked them to be hard-peak.
