lemon meringue pie isn't actually hard to make!

i love lemon meringue pie. like it might even be my favorite pie now that i think about it. even so, i rarely get to enjoy this treat in my mouth. so i decided to make a pie the other day to bring to my friend katie's place because she had made dinner. i was feeling ambitious and lemony. okay i'll admit it, this recipe was LITERALLY the FIRST one that popped up on google (thank you emilie s. from allrecipes.com). but it was really simple and i decided to go for it! (you do need an electric mixer...i have a cheap handheld one).

lemon meringue pie.

ingredients

1 pie crust (i used frozen from trader joe's and loved it)

lemon filling:

1 c sugar

2 T flour

3 T cornstarch

1/4 t salt

1 1/2 c water

2 lemons, juiced and zested

2 T butter

4 egg yolks, beaten

meringue:

4 egg whites

6 T sugar

directions

1. bake the pie crust according to the directions on the box.

2. preheat the oven to 350F.

lemon filling:

3. in a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. stir in water, lemon juice, and lemon zest and cook over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.

4. stir in the butter.

5. slowly whisk 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture into the bowl of egg yolks then whisk that back into the sugar mixture. i assume this helps things evenly mix without weird eggy chunks.

6. bring to a boil and stir until thick. remove from heat and pour into baked pie crust.

meringue:

7. in a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy.

8. gradually add sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. basically, this is about 5-10 minutes (perhaps?) or until when you lift the beaters up out of the mixture, a peak sticks there that doesn't fold over (and isn't really glossy).

9. spread meringue over the pie and seal the edges at the crust.

10. bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until meringue is golden brown!

word of advice when making meringue. you cannot have any fat in the whites. so make sure the bowl is really clean and not greasy at all. ALSO do not get any yolk into the whites when you are separating them. my strategy (even though it uses an extra bowl): separate each egg over the extra bowl then if it is a clean break, transfer the whites into another bowl holding all the whites and the yolks into a third bowl hold all the yolks. that way if you are on your 4th egg and the yolk breaks into the whites, you can just throw that one out rather than contaminating all 4 whites!