go big or go home: lemon meringue pie

This is a birthday pie I made for my husband last month. He's born January 2nd and if there is a time when desserts are the last thing on my mind, January 2nd would be the day. But this pie works. There's no cloying chocolate or sticky caramel to wrangle with. Instead of a sickening sweetness, this pie is the perfect balance between sweet and tart. And let's just face it, this is a showstopper and while it may not be light in calories, the texture is ethereal and airy.

Glance down at the recipe and take a look at the steps involved. Scared? Don't be. Sure, there are crusts to make (but I make it easy by crushing cookies instead of rolling dough), curd to prepare and egg whites to beat, but really, this pie is about one hours worth of prep in the kitchen. The rest is just waiting. The waiting is murder, but like all good long waits, the results are divine. And like I said, it's a whopper of a dessert that packs a punch not only in pure deliciousness but in beauty as well. Make this pie and you will receive accolades and kisses (just make sure you make it for someone who you want kisses from).

So go ahead and make someone's day. Make this pie and celebrate in the most delicious way. The leftovers (if you have any) also make a wonderful *ahem* breakfast along side of a hot strong coffee. You know, just saying.

Also, I should mention that I'll be writing for ReadyMade's food & kitchen blog, Feast. I'm super excited that I was asked to be a part of the ReadyMade empire as I've been reading the magazine since nearly their very first issue. I'll be writing about different things than what I blog about here, but it will always be food-related. So please stop by, leave a comment and add us to your RSS feed!

lemon meringue pie
(filling & meringue recipe adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook)

vanilla cookie coconut crust
35-40 Nilla wafers, finely crushed
1/4 c shredded unsweetened coconut
1 T sugar
1/4 c melted butter

lemon filling
4 large egg yolks
1 scant c sugar
4 1/2 T cornstarch
1/4 t salt
1 c water
1/2 c milk
1 T unsalted butter
2 t lemon zest
1/2 c lemon juice

meringue
4 large egg whites
1/2 t cream of tartar
1/2 t salt
3/4 c sugar

Make the pie shell:
Preheat oven to 350F. If you have a food processor, I envy you. Whizz away. If you don't, just crush the cookies with a rolling pin. I put the cookies into a ziplock bag and then place a tea towel over top. Smash away and get your ya-ya's out. Dump crumbs into a large bowl, add in coconut and sugar and stir. Pour in melted butter and stir again. Press mixture evenly and firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch tart or pie pan. Bake for 6-8 minutes until fragrant and slightly golden. Set aside.

Make the filling:
1. Whisk together yolks in a medium bowl. In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in milk and water until cornstarch and sugar dissolves and mixture starts to thicken.

2. Very slowly pour one cup of the hot liquid into the beaten yolks and whisk away. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and continue to whisk over a simmer, until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and add in butter, zest and lemon juice and whisk until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Place some plastic wrap or parchment paper over top so that a skin doesn't form.

Make the meringue:
With a stand or electric mixer, beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Turn up the speed and add in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

Assemble & bake the pie:
Pour lemon filling into the warm shell. If the shell isn't warm, just reheat in the oven for a few minutes. Spread meringue smoothly and evenly over top, covering the lemon filling completely. Using your spatula, swirl and draw up peaks in the meringue so it looks pretty. Bake until the meringue is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature for 2 hours and then refrigerate until cold, about another 2 hours.

2 kinds of pre-birthday cupcakes!

Yesterday I had a little pre-birthday celebration with friends. Since I was going to be out of town on my actual birthday, I held a little fake birthday party last night that involved some yummy Jamaican food (and a whole lotta rum drinks) and a night of shuffleboard and good times at the ol' Legion. A good mix of veterans, hipsters, karaoke, shuffleboard, cheap drinks and good friends equals fun times for all! Of course there were 2 kinds of cupcakes made by yours truly. Cornelius and I strapped 2 containers full of the frosted treats on the back of our bikes and made the short 4 km trek with only a few face-planted cupcakes. I shrieked every time I could see a cupcake bounce up and over whenever Cornelius hit a bump in the road!

And how were the cupcakes? Delicious! I made 2 different kinds–a vegan spicy chocolate cupcake with a fluffy peanut butter frosting and a limoncello & coconut cupcake filled with lemon curd topped with a lemony buttercream. While it was hard to pick which cupcake I liked best, I'm definitely on the side of the lemon filled ones while Cornelius liked the spicy chocolate ones best. My friend Carley however thought they both were the best cupcakes she'd ever eaten. High praise indeed!

More on the spicy chocolate cupcakes below. For the lemon ones, I used a homemade limoncello that I had made to give as gifts at Christmas. I saved a bottle or two for myself, of course. If you don't have lemon liqueur on hand, you could use lemon juice, lemon oil or lemon extract to no ill effects. With the frosting, I'm not one to really measure things out. Just let your tastebuds and the resulting consistency be your guide. Buttercream is really easy to make so take my recipe as a guideline and make it work! The lemon curd was adapted from a recipe by Baking Bites. It was tart, lemony and tasted incredibly fresh. It was the perfect counterbalance to the sweet frosting.

limoncello & coconut cupcakes filled with lemon curd
½ c butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1½ cups ap flour
½ c shredded sweetened coconut
lemon zest from 2 lemons
1 t baking powder
¼ t salt
½ c milk
1 t limoncello

low fat lemon curd:
1/3 c fresh lemon juice
2 t fresh lemon zest
5 T sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 t vanilla extract

limoncello buttercream frosting:
½ c soft butter
3 c powdered sugar
2 t limoncello
2 t lemon juice
1 t vanilla

1. Prepare lemon curd by combining sugar, zest and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved completely. In a medium bowl, beat egg and slowly add lemon mixture in a slow stream over egg, whisking as you go. Whisk for 2 minutes and then strain mixture back into saucepan. Bring to a simmering boil, whisking constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool.

2. In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine flour, coconut, zest, baking powder and salt. Alternate between adding flour mixture to the butter mixture with the milk; adding the flour in 3 separate goes and the milk twice. Spoon into paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

3. When cupcakes are cool, use the cone method to fill them with lemon curd. The cone method involves cutting out a cone shape from the cupcake and filling them space with the curd. Remove the cone from the cut out piece and place the top back on the cupcake. It's easier than it sounds. For a picture description, check out master cupcaker, Chockylit.

4. For the frosting, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, add in limoncello, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until fluffy, adding more sugar a spoonful at a time if needed to get correct consistency. Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired.

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The spicy chocolate cupcakes were just a riff off of the standard wacky (cup)cake recipe that I've made before. I just spiced these up with cinnamon, cayenne and a few other spices and decided to top off the whole thing with a peanut butter frosting. It was a match made in heaven as the spiciness of the cupcake worked deliciously with the fluffy peanut butter. Yummy.

spicy chocolate vegan cupcakes with peanut butter frosting
1½ c ap flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
¼ t ground nutmeg
¼ t ground ginger
¼ t ground cardamom
1½ t cayenne pepper
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 c sugar
½ c canola oil
1 c cold coffee
2 t vanilla extract
2 T vinegar

peanut butter frosting:
2 T peanut butter
1 T agave syrup
½ c Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)
2 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together from the flour to the sugar. In another bowl, whisk together the coffee, oil and vanilla. Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ones and mix until combined. Stir in the vinegar until the vinegar combines with everything. You'll see streaks from the vinegar which means the magic is working. Pour into paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter and agave syrup over medium heat. Remove to cool slightly. Using a mixer, briskly beat margarine and sugar together until fluffy. Add in peanut butter mixture and vanilla. If necessary, whisk in more sugar to stiffen or some soy milk to thin slightly. Once the consistency is ideal and your cupcakes are completely cool, frost and decorate cupcakes.

birthday cake

Well, birthday week 2007 has just about come to an end, I think. But I'm okay with that because I've got cake in the fridge to last for a few days more (maybe) and a bountiful supply of fresh lemon curd and a delicious dark chocolate ganache to keep those birthday memories kickin'. The cake I made was outstanding. As planned, I followed the Martha Stewart yellow cake recipe to the letter. It turned out wonderfully moist and flavourful and I'd make it again in a heartbeat. I did make a lemon curd filling, but decided not to use Martha's recipe because I prefer recipes using whole eggs rather than just yolks. Instead, I found this version which not only met my whole egg requirement, but it was sweet, sweet perfection. Tart, lemony and way too easy to eat up with a spoon! And for the rich chocolate topping, I halved the Martha recipe, subbed in my favorite Dark Ritter Sport bars for the chocolate chips, and even after topping the cake, still had enough ganache to last a long, long while.



If you are putting this together, you can make everything 1 day in advance...just make sure everything is tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated. Just don't put everything together until the next day.