Monday, January 28, 2008

How Many Lemons Does it Take to Make a Lemon Meringue Pie?

For me, that answer is 6. I do love lemons but the paper cuts on my hands definitely do not.

This is my first official entry as a Daring Baker and things went well, although slowly – but that’s my fault. My old school food processor did a great job of making the dough. I did have to add more water to get it to the right consistency.

Old School Food processor
Dough

The pie crust turned out great and I had no problems transferring it to my pie plate.

Rolled out
Freeform

I’m not that good at decorating pie crust edges (yet) so this is as fancy as it got, but doesn’t the pie look like a ray of sunshine? I didn’t put beans in the bottom of the crust because I thought, “I don’t need them.” Well, I kept checking on it and now I see why the instructions say to do that – the bottom of the crust kept puffing up. Thankfully, once I took it out of the oven it settled down for the most part. Lesson learned. I also forgot to bake the crust while making the filling (duh). So I had to keep stirring and heating (simmering) the filling to keep the film off of the top while I waited on the crust.
No harm done.

Crust baked
Like the Sun

I took my coworker’s advice on keeping my utensils as cold as possible in order to make the meringue so I put my bowl in the freezer. I added more of the cream of tartar because it seemed like I was mixing that meringue FOR-EVER! I think it whipped up alright in the end. I think it’s pretty.

Glossy

Glad to be a Daring Baker!

So purty

-JJ

8 comments:

Lynn said...

Hi, JJ! Very pretty pie! I think your co-worker has it backwards about the meringue, though. When you whip cream you want everything cold, but when you whip egg whites for meringue, they whip up better if they are at room temperature.

Sheltie Girl said...

Your pie turned out beautifully. I agree with Lynn, I've had better luck with getting a lofty meringue when everything is at room temperature.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Anonymous said...

Pretty pie,JJ :)

jasmine said...

Totally sympathetic about the papercuts...owieowieowie.

Yours is such a pretty and voluptuous pie...

j

Dolores said...

It does seem that all it takes is a single drop of lemon juice to find cuts and scrapes you didn't realize you had. Ow! You did a great job with your first challenge; congratulations on your beautiful pie, and welcome!

Princess of the kitchen said...

Lovely LMP. Job well done

Sandicita said...

Beautiful job! I had problems with my timing too and ended up with a very thick, cold curd by the time the crust was done. Oh well!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Your pie looks real nice.
Perhaps the next challenge will bea easier on your hands.
I'm a first timer at just about everything this challenge -DB, LMP, Lemon, curd and the meringue.