Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A Surprise from my Kitchen

Lemon Meringue





The children and I will be having a little get together with Nana and Grandpa tomorrow night. We will have ginger ale and hot chocolate, cookies and brownies. It will be a lovely winter evening, here in Vermont.

Nana has asked me to make a few things. I will bake the brownies.

But there is a secret and I hope you don't tell her. (smiles) Grandpa and I love Lemon Meringue pie. Our favorite companies who make them (frozen) are Sara Lee and Mrs. Smith. But we cannot find either one around here!

So yesterday, I bought the ingredients to make it myself, for the very first time!

I will have to do my regular housekeeping chores first. I will have to start our little homeschool. I also have some errands to do. But when I am finished with my duties, I will put on some pleasant music and I will turn on the little lamp in my kitchen, and I will set a happy mood to make a very special pie for our party.

If it doesn't turn out well . . .   I'll just toss it out, and never tell Nana.  (gentle smiles) 

(Edited update - I made the pie, and it was delicious! I was surprised it only took around 30 minutes before it went in the oven. The only time I panicked, was when I was mixing the meringue. I had no idea how long it was supposed to take, but I called Nana for advice, and it worked out fine.)

Blessings
Mrs. White

From the Archives -

God's precious care of our lives - All of God's Children Have Shoes.

Old Time Thrift - Retirement Planning for the Poor.

Serenity in the Midst of Sadness - The Shabby Garden.

 

 

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77 pages, paperback.





6 comments:

Wendy said...

Hi Mrs. White! I haven't "talked" to you in a while! I miss you! :) I love the lemon pie idea. My hubby loves lemon meringue pies too, and you've inspired me to try to make one for him. I've never made one either, so hopefully both of us will do a great job! I think my younger daughter and I will try it today. If it doesn't turn out well, we can get rid of the evidence before he gets home so he won't be disappointed. Do you have a recipe that looks particularly good to you? If so, I'd love to have it. I'm going to look in my Bell's Best cookbook to see what I can find there. My email address is hilton(dot)wendy(at)comcast(dot)net. I'll try to share mine with you too if it's good! Have a wonderful day!

Unknown said...

Oh!! I do hope it turns out wonderful...what a sweet surprise! :) Today I'm planning on doing some baking in the afternoon...I want to get some breakfast breads done up and put in the freezer, as well as bake some Christmas goodies. I'm hosting the Women's Ministry ladies tomorrow afternoon as they wanted to include me but wanted to make it easy on me as I'm the only one with little kids. I thought that was pretty sweet! I also found some really pretty white plates at the Dollar Tree and so I bought some glass candleholders and bowls and am planning on making a tiered stand for treats. Maybe I'll put it up on Pink Saturday!

Have a lovely day!

Sarah
(PS, I've read several things about your little lamp...it sounds like a soothing place to bake! Wonder if I have a little lamp around here somewhere... Ha! :)

Julieanne said...

My husband's favorite dessert is lemon meringue pie - so that's the way I chose to let him know that I was "interested", back in the day! (I brought a lemon meringue pie to an Easter celebration where we were both attending at a friend's home). :)

Here's the recipe that we love:

Light Lemon Meringue Pie

Use your favorite crust recipe, or try this one:

Kruse Farm’s Basic Pie Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Sift dry ingredients. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fingers until only pea-sized bits of shortening remain. Sprinkle ice water into flour-shortening mixture while tossing with a fork. Flour the surface you will roll out crust on. Divide dough in half and roll to desired size.
To make a single baked pie shell, fit into pie tin and flute the rim if desired. Prick bottom and sides of crust. If possible, use a pie blind to prevent crust from shrinking. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until crust is golden brown. To complete a two-crust pie, pour in filling, brush rim of pie crust with beaten egg white. Place pie top, folding edge of top under edge of pie bottom. Press down and then flute edge or press with a fork to seal well. Most fruit pies take one hour to bake at 350 degrees. Use oven rack just below the middle of the oven.


Lemon Meringue Filling:
1 cup sugar 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1/3 cup cornstarch 1 tsp. finely shredded fresh lemon peel
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 cups cold water

Meringue:
3 egg whites 1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt (optional) ½ tsp. vanilla

For crust, heat oven to 425 degrees. Make crust following Kruse Farm’s Basic Pie Crust recipe. Line pie tin with crust and fold and flute edges. Line crust with a double layer of aluminum foil, making sure it covers the edges of the pie. Fill foil with coins or pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes; remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

For filling, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy saucepan. Stir in water gradually, blending until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until filling comes to boil. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir small amount of hot mixture into egg yolk in small bowl. Return egg yolk mixture to saucepan to heat and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel and juice. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

For meringue, beat egg whites and salt until frothy. Add 1/4 cup sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until stiff but do not let it form dry, stiff peaks. Fold in vanilla. Spoon hot filling into baked pie shell. Spread meringue over filling, sealing meringue to edge of pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack. Cut with sharp knife dipped in hot water.

I've never had this lemon meringue pie recipe fail me, and I make it about once a year for my hubby. Hope it turns out well!

Julieanne
http://www.JoyInOurJourney.com

Julieanne said...

Sorry that the recipe ingredients showed up a bit strangely in my previous comment. There was no way to rearrange it in the comment box, so that's the only way it would show up. Hope you can figure it out! :)

Julieanne
http://www.JoyInOurJourney.com

The Crazy Mom said...

Believe it or not, a few years back one of my sons attempted a lemon meringue pie and he did a great job. I even tried to discourage him because the meringue is so tricky. I think he used the lemone pie filling, though, but still. I was a proud mama! :)

The moral of the story is: If he can do it, I'm sure you can!

Mrs. Laura Lane said...

Lemon meringue is my husband's favorite. I think I'll make one soon. How did yours turn out?