Lemon Meringue Pie

For Easter my mom wanted me to make some kind of pie because she had a flaky crust that needed to be used. I thought about lime, but mom said that lime goes better with a graham cracker crust, so I decided on 

 lemon. I really like citrus and had never made lemon meringue pie before.

Ingredients

Pie crust (can buy ready to bake one at the grocery store)

Filling

½ cup fresh lemon juice (2 ½ lemons)

5 tablespoons cornstarch

 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest

3 egg yokes

1 ¼ sugar

1 ½ cup of water

3 tablespoons butter (cold)

Meringue

5 tablespoons sugar

3 egg whites

Bake pie crust at 425 with parchment paper and beans in it to weight it down. Fork the pie crust before sticking it in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes then take beans out and bake for 10 to 15 min until crust is a light brown.  Let cool

Turn down the heat on the oven to 350

While the crust is cooling get out a medium sauce pan or pot and whisk cornstarch, water and sugar. Then put pot over medium heat and add zest, lemon juice, and yokes. Make sure to get the zest before you squeeze the lemons. It really difficult to get the zest off a lemon that had been squeezed.

 

Whisk constantly until it boils then remove from heat and add butter. Then strain into pie crust.

 

Using a mixer or whisk (you really need a mixer for this. I was at home so I used it) mix egg whites until they 

form soft peaks.  

Gradually add in sugar while mixer is still on until it feels about half the bowl (about 6 times as much as when you started.)

Add to the top of pie and bake for about 10 minutes until the meringue is lightly brown. Then cool and serve at room temperature or cold. I like mine cold but the meringue will start to separate.