Lemon Meringue pie

Tavio wanted lemon bars for his birthday instead of cake. I told him about lemon meringue pie and he decided to give that a try. I haven't made it before, so I looked up a recipe on allrecipes.com. I also found a pie crust recipe on allrecipes.com. The pie crust didn't need nearly the water it calls for in the recipe, and I totally forgot the butter in the pie. It tasted great, but did weep and separated. Can't complain about the flavor though. The picture looks good because it was taken before I refrigerated it and before it separated.



Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 lemons, juiced and zested
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 egg whites
• 6 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3. To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Pie crust

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I used butter flavored)
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold water (I only used 1/2 of this to start, and it was too much. I had to add more flour.

Directions

1. Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork.
2. Roll gently on a floured pastry cloth to about an inch larger than pie plate. Fold carefully in half, lift to pie plate, and unfold. Press into pan. For a single-crust pie, trim with a small knife to about 1/2 inch beyond rim. Fold up, and pinch so edge of pie is raised from rim.

I had to look around for some baking directions. I baked at 400 for 15 minutes.