Lime Meringue Pie Recipe
Vote for Lime Meringue Pie!
Your nugget of nutritional info for this post:
Aaaar...and avast ye, mateys. Thar'll be no scurvy for the Cookie whipping up this recipe! Lime be walkin' the plank in this wedge of juicy goodness. Originally used by sailors to prevent that disease, Vitamin C isn't this tart treat's only benefit!
At 60 odd mg per serving, it serves up a respectable amount of potassium, while its flavonoids stimulate the digestive system, aiding its function by increasing the secretion of digestive juices. Basically, it puckers you from tip to toe, but that's a good thing—since it revitalizes the skin, too. Internally or externally applied, the acids in lime are Nature's own scrubber!
The Results!
The Ingredients:
Recipe in Rebus:
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 pie shell, deep dish
- 5 eggs
- 14 oz sweetened, condensed milk
- ½ cup lime juice
- ½ cup Baker's sugar
- @ 2 TBSP. lime zest, fresh is best
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ¼ tsp. cream of tartar
- TIP: If you're a mad pastry chef, please, by all means make your own pie crust! Unfortunately, the crusts I make are more weapons grade than flaky, so I "cheat" and use the frozen shells from the grocery. Marie Callendar's are a favorite...
How to Do it:
- Thaw pie shell, and prick crust all over to minimize air pockets.
- Edge with foil, and bake at 400 for 7 minutes. (NOTE: this step if for a crispy crust in end product. If you prefer a more doughy crust, skip this bit of pre-baking.) Remove and set aside. Go ahead and turn the oven temp down to 350 at this point, too.
- Time to make the curd: separate egg yolks from egg whites into separate mixing bowls. Set whites aside for now.
- Add sweetened, condensed milk to yolks.
- Add lime juice to yolks.
- Grab your limes, and zest those puppies. If you find the shreds are a little long, go ahead and chop them to a smaller size.
- Add to curd base, and mix all this together by hand--but thoroughly.
- Pour into pie shell, and place in 350 oven for ten minutes. NOTE!! It's v-e-r-y important to have your mise-en-place for the meringue ready to go when you put the curd into the oven, since the curd must be piping hot when you top it with egg whites. This ensures the albumin in the whites is cooked from the bottom up by the curd, and the top down by the oven. Of course, if you have a creme brûlée torch--never mind!! ;)
- I go so far as to pre-measure my vanilla!!
- Begin whipping the whites at a low speed. Once the whites achieve a little body, add vanilla, and increase beater to med-high speed.
- Gradually pour in sugar / tartar amalgam. I do mean gradually...you should just be finishing adding the sugar as the meringue comes to the right stage...
- Remove pie from oven, and working quickly, dollop a large amount of white into pie's center, and spread outward, thoroughly covering the edges of the pie crust. This will help prevent the meringue topping from shrinking back away from edge as pie bakes.
- Place pie in oven for an additional 20 minutes.
- Cool counter-side thoroughly before putting in the refrigerator--to minimize "weeping". It's also best to let the pie chill overnight before cutting into it, to allow curd to set properly.