Yummy Lemon Meringue Pie

Cooking and Baking is something I have loved to do since I was a child, I have my mother to thank for this, she started me in the kitchen at a very young age. So I like to say I learned from the best because really whats better then moms cooking :) Now I like to get my own daughter in the kitchen as much as I can, to pass on our families recipes, and to try some new fun stuff that I know my family will love. I think of all my hobbies this is my husbands favorite! So when I decided to make my mother- in- laws favorite Lemon Meringue pie for her birthday, of course I had to make two. Now I have heard this is not an easy pie to make but trust me it's not as bad as it seams and is pretty fast to make.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups of Water

1 Cup Sugar

3 1/2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 Lemon's Zested

1/3 Teaspoon Juice from Lemon

1/4 Teaspoon Lemon Extract

3 Egg Yolks

2 Tablespoons Butter

Pre made roll out pie shell ( bake this in oven till it is almost golden brown, set a side) 

Directions

First separate your egg yolks & whites. Put aside the egg whites so they can come up to room temperature for the meringue in a little bit. Next In a bowl combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract & egg yolks then put aside. Now In a sauce pot on high heat, Combine sugar, corn starch, flour, salt & water. you will need to stay by the stove for this, Continue to stir until the sugar mixture comes to a full boil. It will become thick, and form into a gel. 

Take the hot sugar mix off the hot burner.  Now you are ready to temper your egg yolks.
Add a small amount of the hot sugar mixture to the egg yolks, a little at a time to slowly bring the eggs up to the same temperature of the hot sugar mix. Doing this to fast will scramble your eggs. Once you have added a few hot spoonfuls the yolks will now be up to temperature. Add all of  yolk mixture back in the pot stirring the whole time. Put the mixture back on the stove, add butter and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. At this point your mixture should have a nice yellow color to it.

Pour in to pre baked pie shell. Now it's time to make your Meringue topping.

 Meringue

3 Egg Whites

1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1/4 Cup Sugar

Directions

Your egg whites should to be at room temperature by now. Using a glass bowl add cream of tartar to the egg whites, Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until eggs whites form peaks with tips that curl over when beaters are lifted. Now you can slowly start to add your sugar. beating the whole time add a little bit of sugar at a time making sure all sugar is  dissolved. Now pour your topping over pie, making sure to seal all the way around pie shell so that you can not see the fulling at all. With a spoon just touch the top of meringue and pull up fast this will make your peaks. Bake at 350 for about 10 mins or until peaks are golden brown.