Lemon Meringue Pie

* Well, I think you should make a pie since November always reminds me of Thanksgiving aka turkey, mashed potatoes, and PIES. So I haven't actually made this one, but citrus pies are always nice to cleanse the palate! Let us know how it tastes!

Ingredients
Pastry for one-crust pie
3 large egg yolks (reserve egg whites for meringue)
1 1/2 C sugar
1/3 C plus 1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 C water
3 Tbsp butter or stick margarine
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 C lemon juice
2 drops of yellow food color (if desired)

Directions
1. Bake pastry for baked One-Crust Pie.
2. Heat oven to 350. Complete step 2 of Meringue for 9-inch pie (see below).
3. While sugar mixture for meringue is cooling, beat egg yolks with fork in small bowl; set aside. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in water. Cook over med. heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.
4. Immediately stir at least half of the hot mixture into egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon peel, lemon juice and food color. Press plastic wrap on filling to prevent a tough layer from forming on top.
5. Complete step 3 of meringue recipe. Pour hot lemon filling into pie crust. Spoon meringue onto hot lemon filling. Spread over filling, carefulling sealing meringue to edge of crust to prevent shrinking or weeping.
6. Bake 15 min or until meringue is light brown. Cool away from draft 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate cooled pie until serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

NOTE: Use the egg whites left over from separating eggs for the lemon filling to make the meringue. Letting the egg whites stand at room temperature is okay for up to 30 min. They'll beat up well after being out of the refrigerator for a short time.

This meringue has a special method: making a syrup with sugar, cornstarch and water. It makes the mergingue that clings to a filling, does not shrink and cuts beautifully. It's well worth teh small bit of extra effort.

Meringue for 9-inch Pie
Ingredients
1/2 C sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 C cold water
4 large egg whites
1/8 tsp salt

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 1-qt saucepan. Stir in water. Cook over med. heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Cool completely while making filling for pie. (To cool more quickly, place in freezer about 10 minutes)
3. Beat egg whites and salt in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks just begin to form. Very gradually beat in sugar mixture until stiff peaks form.
4. Spoon meringue onto hot pie filling. Spread over filling, carefully sealing meringue to edge of crust to prevent shrinking.