I'll be honest with you ---
this pie has very little redeeming nutritional value. On the
other hand, it is simply the best lemon meringue pie you'll ever taste
(especially if you use farm fresh eggs and homegrown
Meyer lemons.)
Crust:
0.5 c. flour
0.5 c. cocoa
0.25 c. sugar
0.5 tsp salt
7 tbsp butter
4 tbsp water
Put the flour, cocoa,
sugar, and salt in a food processor and blend briefly. Add the
butter in four or five pieces, and blend until the butter is broken
apart into tiny fragments. Then add the water and blend one more
time. Pat the dough into the bottom of a buttered, 9 inch round
cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the crust
is baked through.
Filling:
1 c. sugar (or a bit
more if you're using traditional lemons or have a sweet tooth)
6 tbsp cornstarch
0.25 tsp salt
1 cup lemon juice
6 medium egg yolks (or 5
large egg yolks)
2 tbsp butter
1.5 c. boiling water
1 tbsp grated Meyer
lemon peel (or 0.5 tbsp grated peel from a traditional lemon)
Mix the sugar,
cornstarch, and salt in a pan, then add the lemon juice, egg yolks, and
butter. (Set the egg whites aside for use in the meringue.)
Slowly pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. Cook over
medium-high heat until the filling boils and thickens, stirring and
turning down the heat as necessary so the filling doesn't burn or
stick. Remove from the stove after 1 minute of boiling and add
the lemon peel, then pour into the baked pie crust.
Meringue:
6 medium egg whites (or
5 large egg whites)
6 tablespoons of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Beat egg whites until thye
are stiff but not dry, then carefully stir in the sugar and
vanilla. Spoon the meringue over the top of the hot pie
filling, making sure that the meringue comes in contact with the cake
pan all the way around. Then bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15
minutes, until the top is brown.
Let your completed pie
cool in the fridge overnight before eating. I
never jump through the hoops to keep my meringue from weeping and
deflating, but the pie still disappears far too quickly. Good
thing we could make four more pies just like this from 2011's
dwarf Meyer lemon harvest!