When Life Gives You Lemons - Lemon Swiss Meringue Pie

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and we only had 2 pies.  Mom made a Huckleberry Tart, and I had made a Pumpkin Chiffon.  OH, HECK NO! not in this pie-centric family.  That's a recipe for disaster. A Pie-mergency, a Pie-tastrophy, A-pie-calypes Now!! So, I threw together my version of Lemon Meringue Pie.

Lemon Meringue is one of those weird pies.  It's really simple, but really difficult at the same time.  Then again, I tend to make things difficult for myself all the time.  It's just my nature.  I have never been happy with a raw French Meringue on my Lemon pie. (just beating sugar and egg whites to stiff peaks)  It shrinks, it weeps, it separates from the lemon filling and has a slightly funny texture to me.   I much prefer the smooth and somewhat velvety texture of a Swiss Meringue.   Thus the difficult part of the pie making process. 

You will see what I am talking about as I go through this recipe. 

Lemon Swiss Meringue Pie

1/2 recipe Pâte Brisée, pre-baked in a 9-inch pie plate 
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water
1/3 cup Cornstarch (I actually prefer Arrowroot Powder, but I was out)
1/3 cup Water
4 large Eggs, Separated
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1 TB Butter
Zest of 1/2 a Lemon
2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 tsp Cream of Tarter

OK, so you need to have a pre-baked (not par-baked) 9-inch pie shell.

In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup Sugar and 1 1/2 cups Water, then set it over medium flame.

Bring this to a boil.

In the meantime, combine 1/3 cup Water with 1/3 cup Cornstarch in a small pitcher, mixing well to form a slurry; then set aside.

Separate the eggs, setting the whites aside for later, and beat the yolks.

Squeeze the lemons and add the juice to the yolks, stirring well to combine.

By now the Sugar/Water mixture should be boiling, so add the cornstarch, whisking constantly.

Continue whisking until the mixture bubbles and is clear.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the Lemon/Egg Yolk mixture, again, whisking constantly.

Return the saucepan to the heat and continue stirring and cooking until it begins to bubble again.

Remove from the heat again and stir in the Butter and the Lemon Zest.

Pour into the pre-baked Pie shell.

OK, now that was the easiest part... Now for the fun part.

Preheat the oven to 325F degrees.
Place a saucepan of water on high heat and bring to a simmer.
Place the Egg Whites in a heat safe bowl, and add the 2/3 cup Sugar and the Cream of Tarter.

Set the bowl over the simmering water and begin whisking until the sugar dissolves.
Once the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites begin to get foamy, grab a temperature gauge and continue whisking and cooking until it reaches 145 F (62 C) degrees.

Remove the bowl from the simmering water and pour the contents into your stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment.

Now is the time to "put the spurs" to the Egg Whites.  (Whip them until they cool and form stiff peaks)

Spread the Swiss meringue all over the warm filling (the hotter the lemon filling, the better the adhesion) being sure to seal the meringue down to the crust edge.

I like to make mine all spiky looking.

Place the entire pie in the oven for about 20 minutes (or longer if you like darker tips)

Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

There you have it, a simple recipe made more difficult by yours truly.  :)

Incidentally, Lemon Meringue Pie should NEVER be placed in the refrigerator.  I don't care what type of Meringue you make, French, Italian or Swiss, the damp air of the refrigerator will make Meringue weep.  (as you can see on the slice above, after it spent 6 hours in the refrigerator)  Lemon Meringue pie is really meant to be eaten within 4 hours of making it. 

Look at it this way, everything is cooked at this point, the Egg Yolk were cooked when making the filling, the Egg Whites were actually cooked twice. Once to 145 degrees and then again in the oven when browned.  There is plenty of sugar and/or acid in both parts to arrest any bacteria growth for at least that long.  So keep it at room temperature and consume fairly quickly.  :)

Happy ThanksGiving to all, and to all a Good Appetite!
~~

Broken Cabbage - Danish Puff

My mother made this a lot when I was growing up.  She obtained the recipe following a potluck at the, then, Troutdale Baptist Church from Dorothy Evans.  This is not really Danish pastry per se, it is more of a pie crust or "broken dough" (Pâte Brisée) with Puff Paste or "cabbage dough" (Pâte á Choux) spread over the top.  Though it may not be made of the same yeast-ed and turned dough as croissants are made of, the result is still deliciousness.  Besides, "Danish Puff" sounds so much more appetizing than "Broken Cabbage", don't you think?

Let me tell ya, this is laden with butter.  Thus it is imperative that, since butter is the principle flavor, you use a good quality butter.  I usually turn to Lurpak or Kerry Gold for this, depending on which one happens to be on sale at the moment.

The Choux paste is pretty standard as Choux paste goes, except for the addition of a little Almond extract.  The Pâte Brisée, however, is much more butter laden than normal.  Where I normally use about 3 cups of flour in total (2 3/4 AP and 1/4 Cake flour) with 8 oz of butter, this version contains 1 cup of flour with 4 oz of butter. Which is why you will need to press it out onto the baking sheet instead of rolling it out, cause it's just way too sticky.

The Apricot preserves are completely optional.  I started doing it a little while back just because, but my mother never did it that way.  She always garnished it simply with sliced Almonds and drizzled it with glaze.  It's one of my favorite breakfast treats, simply because the only sugar contained in the recipe is the Confectioners' in the glaze (and in the preserves, if you are using them) so it's not TOO sweet like so many other breakfast foods.  That always makes me happy, cause I really don't like starting my day out with a sugar buzz. :)

Danish Puff

Pâte Brisée
1 cup (127g) (4.5 oz) AP Flour
Pinch of Kosher Salt
4 oz (113g) unsalted Butter
2 TB Ice water

Combine Flour and Salt in a bowl.

Cut butter into the flour as for Pâte Brisée.

When butter is small pea sized,

add ice water

and mix with a fork until the dough begins to come together.

Draw dough into a ball and divide in half. (about 130 g each)

On a large baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, press each of the 2 balls into 12 x 3 strips.

Refrigerate to let it rest while you prepare the Choux paste topping.

Pâte á Choux
4 oz (113g) Butter
1 cup (236ml) Water
pinch of Kosher salt
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Almond extract
1 cup (127g) (4.5oz) AP Flour
3 large Eggs

Glaze:
1 cup (100g) (3.5 oz) Confectioners' Sugar
1/4 tsp Almond Extract
4 tsp Whole Milk

Garnish:
Sliced Almonds
(optional) Apricot Fruit Puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a medium saucepan bring water and butter to a boil over medium heat.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add Vanilla and Almond extracts stirring to combine.

Add the Flour and stir constantly and continuously until the flour has absorbed all the water,

and forms a balled mass that pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.

Let the dough rest for about 3 minutes to cool slightly.....
Begin adding eggs 1 at a time, stirring after each until completely incorporated before adding the next.

The  dough will break apart and look like a big mess at first....

but as you keep stirring it will come back together again..  That is when it's time to add the next egg.

When your done stirring in the last egg, the dough will have transformed into a smooth, yet sticky, paste. (thus the name, Choux paste)

Remove the Pâte Brisée strips from the refrigerator.

Divide the Choux paste between the 2 base pastries.

Spread with with a spatula until the Choux is evenly spread over the base.

Move to the oven and bake for 50 minutes. (until golden and puffed)

Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes before icing with standard Milk/Confectioners sugar glaze.
Simply combine Confectioners' Sugar and Milk with Extract.

Mix with a fork until smooth. (you are going to want it a little on the thick side, so don;t be afraid to add more Confectioners' if it seems a little too runny)

If you like, you may spread pureed Apricots over the surface (I usually only do this to one of them)

Sprinkle sliced almond over the pastry.

Apply glaze by drizzling with a fork.

Consume with wild abandon!

Spis!!  er, I mean...  Mangia!!
~~