And here's Lemon Meringue, the pie of last Friday's pottering about the kitchen:


I went to bed on Thursday night thinking how nice it would be to have a slice of lemon meringue pie. I woke up the next morning still hankering for it and decided this was serious, something had to be done. One cannot be craving like this. I will have my cake, in this case, pie and eat it too.

So I trawled through a couple of recipes and found this at Allrecipes. This baby took home the first prize at a county fair in Ohio. I figured if it was good enough for the judges in Bradford, it's good enough for me. A quick check confirmed I had all the ingredients at hand. I could hardly believe my luck and took it as a good omen. Surely I was meant to have this! I made up the pastry dough and whilst waiting for it to rest in the fridge, went ahead with the rest of the prep work. I put on a cd by Shakira and off I went, squeezing and grating the lemons for juice and zest.

Two hours later, I was rewarded with this:


Fresh out of the oven, it had a lovely golden brown crust. After the requisite cooling and chilling, I made a cup of tea and cut myself a slice of pice. I braced myself for The Moment. And what a moment it was! The lemon aroma hits you first followed by the tangy, citrusy filling which leaves a fresh aftertaste. No wonder it won first prize.

Verdict: Lekker with a capital 'L'.

Oh, and I learnt something new about my husband too: I found out he was quite mad for Lemon Meringue pie and he raved about this particular filling. This, coming from a man who's idea of dessert is a cigar after his meal. Needless to say, I was very chuffed. Then I had a light bulb moment: Maybe it's not the case of my husband hating cakes and desserts in general but it's because I haven't been making the right ones.

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Edited to add: The next time I do this, I'm going to try piping the meringue or at least make the peaks higher, just for asthetics. And also for some reason, the meringue lost its golden crust the next day. Maybe it should spend more time in the oven during the initial baking?

Ahh... life's important questions...

Labels: 100% sugar, she bakes