Quick Lemon Meringue Pie

Quick Lemon Meringue Pie

This quick lemon pie recipe is so easy and so good. Every time my mother made a lemon meringue pie it was a treat and I couldn't until it cooled so I could dig in.

My cousin Jimmy lives in Arizona and just happens to have lemon and grapefruit trees in his back yard. Last week my cousin sent us a box of lemons and grapefruits along with his recipe for lemon meringue pie.

There is nothing better than this basic lemon meringue pie recipe made with fresh lemons. When I opened the box I couldn't believe my eyes. These are the biggest lemons that I've ever seen.

Take a look for yourself, on the right is a lemon from our local grocery store and on the left is one of the lemons my cousin sent me. I used just one of these to make the lemon pie filling.

Lemon Pie Filling:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1-1/2 cups cold water
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
1 baked 9-inch pie crust
grated zest of one lemon

For the Meringue: 


1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch or 1/4 Tsp. cream of tartar
3 egg whites







Here is how we made this: Simple Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the pie crust for 12 to 15 minutes.

The Filling:

Combine 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Then stir in the egg yolks.

Bring this to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter. Continue stirring until the filling becomes thick. Then spoon the filling into the pie crust.

The Meringue:

Beat the egg whites on high speed with a mixer until foamy. I used my KitchenAid Stand Mixer for this it works the best.

Add the cornstarch and then add the sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue mixing on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Spread the meringue over the filling, sealing the edges of the pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until the meringue is golden brown.

Cool the pie on a wire rack to room temperature, then refrigerate for 3 hours. Make sure the pie is room temperature before you refrigerate. I have made this mistake before the lemon filling will not set properly if you put it the refrigerator too soon.

I used a store-bought pie crust for this recipe. If you need a recipe for pie crust you can check out my Apple Pie Recipe here.

Big thanks to my cousins Jimmy and Carmie for sending me these beautiful fresh lemons and your quick lemon meringue pie recipe.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy

Below are some of the handy kitchen gadgets that I used to make this quick lemon meringue pie. The small hand grater was perfect for grating the lemon zest. The small strainer was a big help squeezing the lemon juice, it fits over my measuring cup and catches all of the seeds. And of course my 9-inch glass pie plate.

& 

OXO Good Grips GraterOXO Good Grips 3-Inch Mini StrainerPie Plate,2-Pc Set,9",Glass

Muffin Tin Apple Pie

The nights are starting to get cooler and perfect for our family campfires. We had our usual fire on Friday night and I had some apple pie filling left over from our Mountain Pies. It wasn't enough to make a whole pie but I didn't want to waste it, so I made these muffin tin apple pies.

I had this idea to make some mini apple pies and decided to use muffin tins. Also, I wanted to use a different pie crust, I follow Connie Murray @Happybellyfoodie.com.

Back in May of this year, Connie posted this recipe, Butter Crust Chicken Pot Pie. Ever since I read this post I've wanted to try her pie crust recipe so here was my opportunity.

When you read Connie's recipe you'll see that she made the crust in a food processor using chilled butter. I used a  KitchenAid stand mixer so I thought it best to have the butter at room temperature.

Other than that I followed her instructions perfectly and what a wonderful crust this makes, you can get this recipe by clicking the above link for her Chicken Pot Pie, and enjoy so many more of her amazing recipes.

Here is how I made these muffin tin apple pies: 

After rolling the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick I used a glass top with a 3 1/2 inch diameter to cut perfect circles.

Norpro Wood Pastry/Pizza Roller

To roll out my dough I use this handy Norpro Pastry/Pizza dough roller. I think this handy tool gives you much more control than using a rolling pin.

I've used one of these for many years and it really makes rolling out your pastry and pizza dough an easy task.

Then I greased a muffin tin and carefully pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides.

I filled these with my apple mixture, oh and by the way I added 1 tablespoon of sugar and sprinkled some cinnamon into the apples while I made the pie crust. Then I cut tops for these using a 2 1/2 inch glass top and pressed them together. Adding a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon on top, then cut two slices on the top of each one as a vent.

These baked at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until the crust was golden brown. They came out of the muffin tins very easily and cooled on a wire rack.

Connie's pie crust recipe is buttery, flaky and melts in your mouth, Thank You, Connie.

As always Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Pie Crust Cinnamon Bites

Pie Crust Cinnamon Bites

Whenever my mother made pies she would make these tasty little treats with any leftover pie dough. Lately, after I eat dinner I’m always looking for something sweet to eat, well who am I kidding it’s really not lately it’s all of the time.

The other night after dinner I was looking for something sweet, only to find nothing in the house to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

 Since I didn’t make any pies and have any leftover pie dough, I did, however, have a store bought pie crust in the refrigerator, I thought perfect this won’t take long at all.

Now I have to tell you that I didn’t really measure the ingredients below I just added them to my liking.

Here is what I used for Pie Crust Cinnamon Bites:

1/2 stick butter (melted or you could substitute milk for the butter)

Brown Sugar

White Sugar

Cinnamon

I unrolled the pie crust and brushed it with the melted butter. I then added the brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon, again add as much as you like enough to cover the pie crust.

Then I rolled it up into a log pinched the ends to prevent all of the good stuff from oozing out, of course, some will ooze out and that is okay. Then brush the top with more of the melted butter, sprinkle more brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon on top.

I placed this on a cookie sheet with parchment paper (recommended so you don’t have to clean the cookie sheet) and baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then cut these treats into 6 pieces.

This makes for a quick and easy sweet little snack, maybe not as good as my mother’s but I think that she would approve.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.

Penzeys Cinnamon Ground 1.7 oz 1/2 cup jarDomino Sugar, Granulated, 4LB CanisterDomino Light Brown Sugar - 4lb Resealable BagBetty Crocker Pie Crust Mix, 11 oz (3 Pack)

Sam's Apple Pie

Every fall season I get an itch to bake an apple pie, so I decided to go ahead and bake one of my favorites. I call this one Sam's Apple Pie, actually, apple pie is great any time of the year, it just seems fitting when the apples are in season.

I started off by making the pie crust, and since I'm no expert I did this according to my KitchenAid instructions and recipes.

Here is what you need for the pie crust:

2-1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening, well chilled
2 tablespoons of butter or margarine, again well chilled
5 to 6 tablespoons of cold water

I added the flour and salt into my mixing bowl, then attached the flat beater and turned it on low for about 10 seconds.
I cut the shortening and butter into small pieces, added them to the flour, turned on low speed for about one minute until I saw the mixture starting to form little clumps.
Keeping the mixer on low speed I added the cold water one tablespoon at a time until the pie crust formed into a ball.
I cut it into two equal pieces, wrapped it and put it in the refrigerator while I prepared the apples.

My pie crust ready to be cut in half

Now that my pie crust was made it was time to get the apples ready. I used five nice sized Granny Smith apples. I peeled, cored and sliced my apples and placed them in a large bowl. I'm not that particular, I sliced the apples thin but they didn't have to be all the same size. This is enough pie crust for a bottom and top of a 9-inch pie plate.

Once the apples are in the bowl here is what you need:

2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch (I used flour)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Add all of these on top of the sliced apples and mix well using a large spoon. Now that the apples are mixed place them in the refrigerator while you roll out the pie crust.

Mixed apples in the bowl

Next, I rolled out my pie crust between two pieces of wax paper and carefully lined the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Make sure you press it firmly to the bottom and sides, of the pie plate to work out any air bubbles.

Pie crust in pie plate

Next, I added 4 to 5 cups of the sliced seasoned apples into the pie plate, make sure you get the juice from the bottom of the bowl.

Now I added the top, and cut about a three-inch cross in the center, and one-inch cross at every point and one in between. This allows the steam to release.

I lightly brushed the top with milk and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top. Place the pie on a cookie sheet just in case there are any spills, and mine always does, so it's best to be safe.

Time for baking instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
Cover the top of the pie with tin foil, and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes
After 15 minutes remove the tin foil, lower the oven to 375 degrees
Continue to bake for another 45-50 minutes

 Just out of the oven

 I could have really got away with three Granny Apples for this pie, as I had some leftover. So enjoy my Apple Crisp that I made with the leftover apples.

Well, it may not be the prettiest pie or win any contests, but it is oh so good. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.