Bonnies Lemon Meringue Pie Recipes

GRANDMA'S LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• 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.
• 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.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or fork until you see pea-sized chunks of butter remaining.
• Gradually add in cold water, stirring each time until you can press it together. Form it into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or freeze for 30 minutes until chilled.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Roll out pie crust dough to fit a 9" pie plate.
• Press into the pie plate and over the sides. Trim the edges and crimp or leave as desired. Poke the bottom and the sides with a fork all over to help prevent puffing (or use pie weights if you have them).
• Bake for 10-12 minutes until light golden brown. Set aside while you make the filling.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, water, corn starch, egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest.
• Cook over medium to medium-high high, whisking constantly, until thickened. It will be thick, slightly thicker than pudding, when warm. This can take 10-15 minutes, but don't rush it. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in butter.
• Pour hot filling into the pie crust, set aside and make the meringue.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In a small saucepan, whisk together the water and corn starch. Cook over medium heat until thickened and clear. Set aside but keep warm.
• In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites, vanilla and salt until soft peaks form.
• Gradually add in the sugar, beating until stiff glossy peaks form.
• Gradually add in the warm corn starch mixture, beating constantly, until completely incorporated and meringue is light and fluffy and holds stiff peaks.
• Spread meringue onto hot pie filling (it's important that the filling is still hot!) and spread right to the edge of the pie crust. The meringue must touch the edges all the way around.
• Bake at 375°F just until the tops of the meringue are light golden brown -- don't overbake.
• Let rest on the counter on a wire rack for 1-2 hours, then refrigerate for 5-6 hours until chilled, or overnight.
• Slice and serve.

BONNIE'S LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Steps:

• 1. Pie crust is your first step. Prepare your crust and bake it in the oven. You may use a ready-made crust, your own recipe or the recipe below. The second step will be to read through this recipe so you are familar with it as you proceed.
• 2. PIE WEIGHTS This is my solution to keeping the pie crust nice and flat instead of lumpy. I bake my pie in a 10 inch glass pie dish. So I take a tin foil pie pan that will fit INSIDE the 10 inch pie dish on top of the uncooked pie crust. I spray the BOTTOM of the tin foil pie plate with pam. Place it in the pie shell and add about a cup of dried beans. That will be sufficient weight to make it work.
• 3. Here is how the pie crust looks after baked with pie weights.
• 4. Put the tea kettle on to boil water. It is best to assemble all ingredients before you begin. Place your egg beaters in the freezer and your egg whites in the bowl you are going to make the meringue in and refrigerate. Grate the lemon rind. Use level measurements. A timer is very helpful.
• 5. Mix dry ingredients first, then add water for no lumps. Use a whisk to make it smooth and then do your stirring with a wooden spoon.
• 6. Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, boiling water and the lemon rind in a deep non stick saucepan. Heat slowly, stirring until smooth, and then cook over low heat until thickened and no taste of cornstarch remains, constantly stirring about 15 minutes. Use the timer. It will be a sort of white color. (Once in a while, depending on altitude and climate, you may need to add a little more cornstarch than the recipe calls for so it will be thicker.)
• 7. Remove from heat and add the butter and mix well. Beat egg yolks slightly and add lemon juice; add to hot mixture slowly and mix well. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly for 5 to 7 minutes. Do not boil. It will now be a nice yellow lemon color. Remove from heat and set aside.
• 8. Fill your pie shell and it will be full!
• 9. MERINGUE: Beat 6 egg whites until frothy, add a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup sugar a little at a time--then beat until stiff and glossy, and makes stand up peaks. Cover the pie with meringue. SEAL THE EDGES. I pile the meringue in the center and work with a flat bowl scraper to the edges of the pie. Cover the pie so there is no separation between the filling and the meringue. Now bake your beautiful pie in a hot oven at 425 degrees for 4 to 5 minutes or until browned. It will look like my picture. The tip of the peaks will be darker brown. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. Cool on a rack in a draft free place until totally cool, then refrigerate. (If you put a warm pie in the refrigerator, you will have some moisture droplets on your meringue.)
• 10. Chill overnight before cutting (the hardest part is waiting!) Enjoy!
• 11. PIE CRUST: This is Ina's recipe and it has always worked for me. This recipe makes two 10 inch pie crusts. Ingredients: 12 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening 6 -8 tablespoons ice water (about 1/2 cup) Directions: 1. Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. 2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. 3. Add the butter and shortening. 4. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. 5. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. 6. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. 7. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 8. Cut the dough in half. 9. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. 10. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. 11. Repeat with the top crust. If you are using a single crust, flute the edges. 12 **Ina prefers to use Crisco shortening, that has been stored in the refrigerator.
• 12. Cook's Tip: Just a tip: make sure the filling gets very very thick and glassy looking when you are cooking it on the stove. That way, it will have no trouble setting up. Cool completely before refrigerating, and let the pie set overnight before cutting it, so it has time to set up. Thanks and enjoy!

CLASSIC LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Steps:

• In medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture forms coarse crumbs the size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until flour mixture is moistened and can be pressed into a ball.
• Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is cold.
• Heat oven to 450°F. With floured rolling pin, roll pastry on lightly floured surface into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate, or roll pastry loosely around rolling pin and transfer to pie plate. Unfold or unroll pastry and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate. Fold and roll pastry under, even with plate; flute as desired. Prick bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with fork to prevent puffing. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until light brown; cool on cooling rack.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. In small bowl, beat egg yolks with fork. In 2-quart saucepan, mix 1 1/2 cups sugar and the cornstarch; gradually stir in 1 1/2 cups water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.
• Immediately stir with whisk at least half of hot mixture into egg yolks; stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Return to boiling; boil and stir constantly 2 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon zest and lemon juice with whisk. Cover and keep warm.
• In medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; scrape side of bowl occasionally. Continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form and sugar is completely dissolved. Beat in vanilla. Pour hot lemon filling into baked pie shell. Immediately drop spoonfuls of meringue onto hot lemon filling, and carefully spread meringue to cover top completely, spreading to edge of crust to prevent shrinkage or weeping.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until meringue is browned and temperature reaches 160°F. Cool on cooling rack 1 hour. Refrigerate about 4 hours or until filling is set. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.