I’ve been making lemon meringue pie for as long as I can remember. But it usually doesn’t turn out runny. Except for today. It can go into the books with my less successful cooking experiments such as the blueberry clafoutis and coconut cream pie.
I bought a bag of organic lemons last week. There six in the bag; I think used one for a recipe. I used two and a half for this recipe, and the rest will go into lemon curd.
The recipe I used was from Wanda’s Pie in the Sky Cookbook. It’s similar to most I’ve seen on the net. I didn’t have any cornstarch so I used tapioca flour. I wonder if that was the problem.
I was being lazy, so I used store bought Pillsbury and used my brand new pie dish. Very suitable for this type of pie.
I was doing really well with the sugar, tapioca and water mixture. I let it just start to boil, then turned down the heat until it started to thicken. I turned the heat off, while I combined some of the mixture with the egg yolk. It continued to thicken until I could barely stir it.
Then I put it back on the heat with the remainder and heated gently until it started lightly boiling again. I removed from heat and added the butter. After that dissolved, I added the lemon juice, zest and vanilla. This is the step where it might have messed up. The recipe called for 3/4 C of lemon juice, but I like mine a little tart so I added a little bit more. Along with some pulp. It become runny again, but I thought it would set.
It looked good in the dish, but after cooling to room temperature it was still runny. Next I made the meringue. I made sure the egg whites were room temperature before starting. I used the highest setting on my KA and the whipping blade. This is the best meringue I have ever made. It was stiff and held its shape; it stayed piled high and fluffy even after baking.
It looked so good after it came out of the oven!
Until I cut it…
And then it ran away. I don’t think chilling it could even save it. But the meringue was spectacular (It floats on top of the runny filling) and the filling tasted pretty good too.
Oh here is my failed blueberry clafoutis in a spring form pan. Note: do not use a spring form pan for a custard.
