Lemon Meringue Mother's Day Pie

My mom got to pick what dessert she wanted for Mother's Day.  And her choice:  Lemon Meringue Pie.  I love this pie, but I have a confession.  As much as I love to cook/bake everything from scratch, I just can't make this pie 100% homemade.  It's the filling.  Every time I attempt to make this filling it comes out lumpy and not what I want.  So.... I use a boxed pudding/pie filling by Jello.  Its half home-made, since you use a powdered mix and add eggs, sugar, and water to it then cook it.  But its not the old fashioned, like grandma used to make, homemade filling.  So forgive me for that.  But the rest, I assure you, was prepared from scratch, with my own two hands and raw ingredients.

Pie Crust (yields 2 crusts):
-2 c all purpose flour
-1/4 c sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-2/3 cup (10 tbsp) BUTTER- cold (not margarine, because margarine turns this crust oily, and I don't like it.  Cold, cold, cold butter is best, since the bits of butter will stay hard and melt when you bake it, making the crust deliciously flaky)
-1/4 ice cold water.

Place water and ice in a small liquid measuring cup with a pour spout.  Set aside, allowing the water to get ice cold.  In the bowl of a food processor, mix the flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut the butter up into small chunks, and place in the bowl of the food processor with the flour mixture.

Put the lid on, and pulse until the mixture turns to even, coarse crumbs.

Through the feed-spout of the processor, add the water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms into a ball.  Each time I make this it takes a different amount of water to get the dough to come together.  Air on the side of LESS water, since you can't remove the water once it has been added, and too much water makes the dough taste like glue, and no one likes the taste of glue.  Except maybe Pre-schoolers.

Ta-Da!  Pie dough. Divide the dough into two portions (remember this makes 2 separate crusts).  Cover those suckers in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or pop them in the freezer for 20mins.  Cold dough is easier to roll out and work with then super stretchy warm dough.  Plus, the colder the dough is when it enters the oven, the flakier the crust when it comes out!
After your dough has chilled, roll one crust out to a circle large enough to fit your pie pan.

Clearly, I need to work on my circles...  Fold the dough into quarters to make it easier to transfer to the pie pan. Once in the pan, unfold the dough and gently press it into the pan.  Don't try to pull and stretch the dough to fit, that will cause the dough to shrink up when it bakes. 

For Lemon Meringue pie, you only need one crust, and you need to bake it before you add the filling.  Prick the bottoms and sides of the dough with a fork.  This helps prevent the crust from bubbling up or shrinking when you bake it.

Cover the dough with two layers of aluminum foil, making sure to press the foil into the crust and wrap it tightly around the edges, again to prevent the dough from shrinking while baking.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 8 mins.  Remove foil.  Bake for another 6-8 mins, or until the crust is a light golden brown.

Hey good looking.  While the crust cools, make the filling according to box directions.  Remember to stir constantly, otherwise your filling will turn lumpy and burn, and no one likes to eat lumpy pie filling with burnt pieces in it.  Let the filling cool while you make the meringue.

For the meringue, beat 3 egg WHITES, 6 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.  By stiff peaks I mean when you pull the beaters out of the meringue, the meringue should hold its shape, forming a little peak that does not melt back into the mixture.

Pour the lemon filling into the baked pie crust.  Spread the meringue on top, making sure the meringue covers all of the filling, and making a seal along the crust.  This seal will help prevent the meringue from shrinking while baking.  Take your spatula or knife, and with a gentle tapping motion, create small peaks all over the top of the meringue.  These will brown when you bake the pie, giving it that beautiful, textured look.  Since this was a Mother's Day pie, I took a small amount of meringue and, using a pastry bag, piped "MOM" on top of the pie.

Bake your creation in a 350 degree oven for 15 mins, or until the meringue has formed a nice golden color along its edges.

Tart and Tasty.  Yum.