Lemon Meringue Pie

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Let’s start with the lemon filling. In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Then stir in the butter. Remove from heat.

Beat the egg yolks in a small (heat-safe) bowl, and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of the hot lemon mixture. I did this by scooping the mixture into a cup from the saucepan with a spatula. Whisk, then add the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan, whisking as you go. This is just to prevent the eggs from cooking. Bring to a boil and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until it thickens. Remove from the heat, and pour the filling into the baked pie shell.

On to the meringue! In a large metal or glass bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until the mixture becomes frothy. Add the granulated sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Like I mentioned earlier, this could take some time. It sort of makes me laugh to think of the idiom, “I’m going to whip something up real quick” because this, my friends, does not whip up quickly. You may get to a point where you are questioning whether or not you’ve done things right. Just keep going. It took me about 10-15 minutes of whipping this mixture until it was a proper meringue. (Flex those muscles!)

After a while, the mixture will start to stiffen and you will notice that waves are appearing in the bowl. This is a good sign. Keep going until the meringue is thick enough to form peaks that stand on their own.

When done, spread the meringue on top of the lemon filling. You can form some ridges or peaks with the meringue; do whatever you like! Then pop it in the oven for 10 minutes or until the peaks/ridges of the meringue start to turn a nice shade of golden brown. Remove from oven.

Allow the pie to set for two hours before cutting into it. Do not refrigerate it while it’s setting, because you will be messing with that complex chemistry. Just leave it on the counter, and admire those golden peaks!

After about two hours, it’s safe to dig in.