I thought I should probably take a picture of it... But that photo could wait until we were done feasting; after all, the food was ready to serve and we were all starving (it being nearly 4:30, and we had expected to eat about 3 hours earlier). I could worry about getting a picture later.
I opened the cupboard door above where the pie was sitting to look for a glass measuring cup in which to put the gravy (I have china, but it is packed in a box in the basement and I didn't want to look for it). We had been in and out of that cupboard all morning for one thing or another. It had not occurred to me that opening it would spell disaster for my pie!! But sure enough, it did. In an instant, the sugar shaker (you know the kind you find in a small town cafe) was laying in the middle of the pie, its contents oozing onto the bare spot of filling where luscious meringue had once been.
No sooner had I moved the sugar out of the way, then a half-gallon sized plastic container full of unpopped popcorn did a swan dive off the shelf, springboarded off the pie, and hit the floor, taking with it most of the meringue from the pie! My once-beautiful meringue was now on the floor being lapped up by my puppies. My perfect pie now looked like this:
Fortunately, some of the meringue survived, so you can see that it was beautiful!
Even with most of the meringue missing, the pie was fabulous! Here's the recipe I used:
One baked pie crust
2/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups sugar
2 cups cool water
juice & rind of 2 lemons
juice of 2 limes
2 Tb. butter
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 375°
1. Grate the lemon rinds on a fine grater. You should have about 2-3 tsp. of rind when you're done.
2. Juice the lemons and limes - Mine resulted in not quite 3/4 cups of juice. If you get less, that's okay.
3. Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs. Put the whites aside (to use in the meringue) and beat the yolks with a fork until frothy.
4. Whisk together the cornstarch and sugar. Add the water, juice, lemon rind, egg yolks and butter. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until mixture boils. Boil for 1 minute longer, then pour into pie shell.
5. Add powdered sugar to egg white. Using an electric mixer, mix on low speed until you can't see the powdered sugar, then turn up to high and whip until peaks form and hold their shape. Spread immediately on top of the pie (I dump it in the center and smooth it out to the edges), making sure the meringue meets the pie shell.
6. Put pie in the oven and "cook" until meringue is golden brown (about 15 minutes). You may want to check this after 10 minutes to make sure it isn't burning. When the meringue is browned to your satisfaction, remove pie to a wire rack and cool.
Hope your Thanksgiving was perfect in every way!
