Monday, January 28, 2008

Daring Pie

It is once again that time of the month to announce the Daring Baker challenge recipe. This month Jen at The Canadian Baker decided on a lovely Lemon Meringue Pie. Having never made a Lemon Meringue Pie or meringue for that matter, I was excited to dive right into the recipe and give it a try.


Everything went very smoothly, the crust was easy and tasted incredible! The lemon filling was easy to make and I learned a very valuable lesson while attempting to make the meringue. The tiniest bit of egg yolk in with the egg whites and the whites will not rise and form soft peaks like they are supposed to.

Check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see all of the other Daring Bakers beautiful lemon merignue pies.


Lemon Meringue Pie
(Source: "Wanda's Pie in the Sky" by Wanda Beaver)
Daring Bakers Challenge #15: January 2008
Host: Jen (The Canadian Baker)

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:
3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

To Make the Crust:
Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

To Make the Filling
:
Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

To Make the Meringue:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

Since I had some extra pie dough left over I rolled it out used a ramekin as a cutter and then stuffed each piece into a ramekin to make individual sized little pies. Well I really only made one, I ate the other 2 crust rounds like they were sugar cookies. :)

Daring Bakers Extra Challenge
Free-Style Lemon Tartlets
(Source: "Ripe for Dessert" by David Lebovitz)

Prepare the recipe as above but complete the following steps:

To roll out tartlet dough, slice the dough into 6 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll each circle of dough into a 5 inch disk. Stack the disks, separated by pieces of plastic wrap, on a plate, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To bake the dough, position rack in oven to the centre of oven and preheat to 350ºF (180ºC). Place the disks of dough, evenly spaced, on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely.

To finish tartlets, first place oven rack in the upper third of the oven and increase heat to 425ºF. Divide the lemon filling equally among the disks, mounding it in the centre and leaving a 1-inch border all the way around. Spoon the meringue decoratively over each tartlet, right to the edges, in dramatic swirling peaks.

Return tartlets to oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until the meringue is golden brown.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your pie looks so delicious!! I love how your meringue looks!

ashley said...

looks great! love the meringue!

Anonymous said...

another perfect pie! Those peaks are fabulous! aah I am so hungry now, any left??

slush said...

It looks just like a GOOD LMP should. Its perfect, and I love your brown piped meringue too. Fab job!

Tempered Woman said...

Wow- that free style tartlet looks fantastic. I really love seeing the filling just floating there on the sides. Makes for a fancy looking dessert. Congrats on such a successful first time lemon meringue! I was a newbie myself but I think now I'm hooked.

Colette said...

Wow! Your meringue looks amazing! The tartlet is so adorable. I'm with Tempered Woman, I LOVE how the filling looks as if it were floating!

Cakespy said...

Truly inspiring and beautiful work. I would say "nice meringues" but that sounds indecent. Wait. I just said it.

Dawn0fTime said...

What perfect peaks! Hmm...I should have done something with my leftovers too. I got lazy and tossed them. Now that I've tasted how delicious LMP is, however, I'm feeling a tad remorseful.

Anonymous said...

Your pie looks great! I'm joining Daring Bakers in February and looking forward to it!

Dianne's Dishes said...

Your challenge turned out marvelously! Your filling looks so perfect and your meringue is just gorgeous! Good work! :)

That Girl said...

I'm not a fan of lemon meringue pie - but yours is literally the most beautiful I've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Yours looks amazing!! Great job!

Lesley said...

I love what you did w/ your meringue. So pretty. And the tartlet looks great too.

Deborah said...

What a gorgeous pie!!

Tarah at Genesis of a Cook said...

Your pie looks gorgeous!!

Melanie said...

Your pie turned out perfect! No runny filling...looks so delicious and pretty.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that freeform tart is really quite spectacular! Great job!!

CB said...

Your LMP looks perfect! Great job!
-Clara
http://iheartfood4thought.wordpress.com

Mary said...

Your pie looks delicious! My mom used to make her meringue look all gracefull and pointy like that.

Beth G. @SweetLifeKitchen said...

WOO HOO!! Your meringue looks spectacular!!

Anonymous said...

Mhmm yummy and great looking LMP there! Your curd held itself very well! Mine didn't set to well =(

Jenny said...

What a beautiful looking pie! I love how the meringue looks piped. If I ever make this again, I'll do that!

Princess of the kitchen said...

I love your wavy meringue and the curd looks perfectly set. Well done!

Big Boys Oven said...

oh so beautiuflly done, lovely meringue! on the spot!

Peabody said...

Your curd set up beautifully! Both pies look fabulous.

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

You did a wonderful job on your lemon meringue pie and the little tartlets. Nice job on getting the lemon filling to hold to the edge of the tart crust. Awesome presentation.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Candace said...

Beautiful!!!

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Oh Wow! They look beautiful. How did you slice through it so cleanly with such a crisp edge. Perfect!

~Amber~ said...

Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments! :)

Amanda (Little Foodies) - I actually read that the best way to cut a meringue pie is a wet cold knife. So I ran my knife under cold water and sliced it. It worked like a charm.

Brilynn said...

Gorgeous! Love the peaks!

Renee said...

I can't believe how perfect all the parts are: fluffy meringue, firm filling, and tall crust!

Cakelaw said...

Hi Amber, Your pies look great (I will have to learn how to pipe properly so I can do something like this). Especially loved the cute little free form pie.

Anonymous said...

Looks perfect! :-)

creampuff said...

What a gorgeous pie!

javagirlkt's cookin' said...

beautiful! :)

javagirlkt's cookin' said...

beautiful! :)

Lunch Buckets said...

Never thought I'd be complimenting someone on their pie slicing skills - but there ya go - nice pie slicing!

breadchick said...

Perfect LMP! Great job on the challenge this month.

Pixie said...

Simply perfect! Fabulous!

Unknown said...

I almost had disaster when a piece of yolk (tiny as it was) fell into my reserved white! Fortunately, I was able to fish it out! Your pie looks wonderful!!!

Jen Yu said...

My goodness, your curd set up perfectly and your meringue is gorgeous! Awesome job :)

Jessica said...

Hopefully this comment will work -

I think your pie turned out beautiful. I still think the last picture is my favorite! Congrats on another successful challenge!

Gillian said...

that it is a seriously gorgeous lemon meringue pie! :)
This is one of my favourite desserts!