Monday, January 28, 2008

Lemon Meringue Pie - My First DB Challenge!

When I heard that my first Daring Bakers Challenge was a pie, I was thrilled! (Tales of the Yule Log Challenge last month had me shaking in my Crocs!) Pies are my thing—they are what I bring to potlucks and family gatherings where a contribution of food is needed. But I had never made lemon filling from scratch, so that, I thought, would be my challenge.

But as I began following the recipe for the crust, I realized it was a lot different from my usual crust. (I use vegetable shortening and just a little more than a cup of flour for a single crust pie.) The butter and 2 cups of flour made it much richer, heavier, and more difficult to work with. The resulting crust was very thick and doughy, not flaky at all, but had a wonderful flavor.

LynnFerda-Lemon Pie Baked

The meringue, with 5 egg whites as a base, was too much for the pie (2 or 3 would have been more like it) but I followed the recipe and used it all. By the time the meringue was golden on the outside, it seemed still almost raw inside.

The filling turned out to be the best of all! It was lemony and light, not at all rubbery as is sometimes the case with a boxed mix. It had a wonderful fresh lemon tang to it which everyone loved. I added grated lemon peel on the meringue, and the pie was very pretty!

LynnFerda-Lemon Pie Slice

I’ll definitely make a pie using this filling recipe again, but I’ll stick to my own recipe for crust and meringue. All in all, I’d grade this one a B-minus.

- Lynn F

13 comments:

Lis said...

Lynn, I gotta tell you.. that pie looks excellent and anytime you want to make one again using your own recipe, I can be there within hours to test it for you! heee!

Beautiful! I love the idea of the zest on top.. so pretty. :)

Welcome to the Daring Bakers!

xoxo

Anonymous said...

The zest is a great idea. Very nicely -done first challenge!

Janet said...

Try an Italian meringue and just torch it rather than having to bake it. I agree the filling was the highlight.

Kelly said...

I haven't seen another Daring Baker pie that used zest as decoration. What a creative idea. Congrats on your first challenge!

breadchick said...

Welcome to Daring Bakers! Good job on your first challenge.

Lynn said...

Thanks, everyone! I'm glad to be in such great company! Only now I'll have to try something else I've never made-- an Italian meringue.

Sheltie Girl said...

You did a lovely job on your lemon meringue pie. I didn't make it as a pie, but as tartlets. With the smaller size everything turned out beautifully.

Welcome to the DBers!

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Anonymous said...

Congrats on first challenge completed!

Dolores said...

Great job on your very first challenge. I love the lemon zest on top of your meringue. Welcome to the insanity. :)

jasmine said...

I agree with the others--the zest decoration looks lovely. Congratulations on your first DB challenge.

j

Princess of the kitchen said...

Your LMP looks delicious. Well done!

Sandicita said...

Great job. I agree that the crust was not great and the curd was wonderful. Welcome to DB!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Have to say what all the othersare saying. The decoration looks nice. Haven't seen to many decorated LMPs.