Creamy, dreamy pie

It was a beautiful, sunny day out today. After rising pretty early, Drama Queen and I went to the grocery store for food for the week. We have pantry items up the ying yang, but got some fish, shrimp, veggies and dairy. And almost fainted at the bill.

I was in the mood for baking and had asked Dude recently what other types of pie he liked. He popped off a few and then said "coconut cream". Hmmm, don't ever remember seeing him order this in a restaurant or at his grandma's house, but I was game.

I looked in a couple of cookbooks......and the recipe was exactly the same in all 3. Is there really only one recipe for Coconut Cream Pie?

This is from Best of Country Pies-Taste of Home-but it was the same in a church cookbook from Idaho and also community cookbook from, well, I think it was Wisconsin.

Coconut Cream Meringue Pie

1 unbaked pastry shell

6 TBSP sugar

5 TBSP flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups whole milk

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flaked coconut

TOPPING

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

6 TBSP sugar

1/2 cup flaked coconut

Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of tinfoil. Bake at 450 degrees F. for 8 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool. Lower oven temp to 350 degrees F.  In a saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Slowly pour in milk and whisk together. Turn heat on to a medium-high and heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and cook two more minutes while still stirring. Add a small amount of hot milk mixture to beaten egg yolks, then stir yolk mixture into the saucepan containing the milk mixture, stirring while slowly adding. Stir constantly while bringing mixture to a gentle boil. Cook and stir for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and then coconut. Pour into cooled shell.

For meringue, pour egg whites into stand mixer bowl. Add cream of tartar and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. With mixer still running on medium, add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until stiff peaks form. Pour over topping and spread over filling, making sure you cover all the filling. Sprinkle with the coconut. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack. Store in the fridge.

Dude was a member of the clean plate club-times two!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ahhh, the last of the rhubarb. Or is it? I found a few new shoots out there today. I had a little rhubarb left and two containers of strawberries I had bought on sale that needed to be used. I was bringing treats to work, so they lucked out and got both Lemon Cheese bars and a pie.
Pretty red fruit

Grandma's pie pan

Dude enjoying left over strawberries

I even had a few strawberries left to macerate for some angel food cake for Dude.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Crust for two crust pie

4 cups rhubarb, cut into half inch slices

4 cups strawberries, cut into similar sized pieces

6 TBSP instant tapioca

1 TBSP Triple Sec

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1-1/2 cup sugar

more sugar for top

more Triple Sec for top

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place one pie crust in pie tin. Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and instant tapioca. Stir to combine and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in liquor and nutmeg. Pour into pie crust; top with second crust. Brush Triple Sec on top crust; sprinkle with sugar. Cover rim of pie to protect crust edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower temp to 350 and bake for another 35 minutes.

This was formed out of necessity. I had a recipe written down but must have set in butter as there was a grease spot on it that erased some of the measurements and it originally called for orange juice which I had none of on hand. I was concerned about the tapioca at first as it doesn't absorb into filling when sitting on counter, but does magically thicken and disappear when baked. The liquor worked fine and gave it a very slight orange taste that everyone at work enjoyed. It smelled amazing in here while it bake!

Are you ready for some chocolate?

Life has been rather busy around here the last two weeks. I saw that my last post was almost two weeks ago. We had our good friends over for food and games this afternoon. Nothing fancy-sloppy joes, cheesy fries, corn hotdish, deviled eggs, pickle roll-ups and chocolate cream pie. Now, I will probably have a ton of typos in this post as I haven't slept in over 24 hours. I'm nodding off while typing and don't wake up until it nods down to my chest.

I made this pie early this morning and then whipped the cream fresh while our guests were here. It was quite fudgy and good, and not too overly sweet. Even Dude liked it and he is not a chocolate fan.

Chocolate Cream Pie-from Diner Desserts, Tish Boyle

Graham cracker crust

Pudding layer

3 TBSP cornstarch

1 TBSP unsweetened non-alkalized cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup half and half -I used whipping cream

1-1/4 cup whole milk

1 cup sugar

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 TBSP unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

Whipped Cream Topping

2 cups heavy cream

2 TBSP sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Bake off your graham cracker crust. I would normally make my own, but the ready-made ones were on sale and I had a lot going on this weekend. I popped the pre-made shell in a 350 degree F. oven for about 7 minutes to made sure it was all toasty and good.

For pudding layer, in a medium bowl, sift together the corn starch, cocoa powder and salt.

Whisk in 2 TBSP half and half until it is a smooth paste. Whisk in remaining half and half; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, sugar and chocolate. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat. Whisk about 1/2 cup hot chocolate mixture into the half and half mixture. Whisk this mixture into the remaining chocolate mixture in the saucepan. Return pan to heat and cook over medium-high and cook, whisking constantly. When mixture begins to bubble, continue to cook, whisking constantly for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla.

Scrape pudding into cooled pie shell. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

For whipped cream, in an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment or beaters, beat the cream on medium-low for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and add sugar and vanilla. Beat until soft peaks form. Spread on pie before serving.

We have been busy working on my scrapbook room these last two weeks also. Drama Queen moved downstairs so I moved my scrap room up. We (not me) painted walls and got new baseboards. We went to Ikea and go a table for me, along with some chairs for computer desk/scrapping room. I spent about 8 hours hitting it yesterday and I'm still not done. I will post photos once everything is put away-looks like a bomb went off.

Well, my head keeps bobbing so I'm crawling into bed. I will probably wake up in the middle of the night-maybe I can find something else to bake?

Banana Cream....It's a Dream

Last week when I made the chicken stock, I also baked a pie. I had told Dude I could make him a Lemon Meringue since I had everything on hand, but he shook his head. Maybe you could make a banana cream? I haven't had that in forever. I searched through cookbooks and found one that was not based on Jello. I figured I might as well go all out.

This comes from Diner Desserts, the same book my Lemon Meringue pie comes from. It wasn't hard, but there were a few steps involved, but I had nothing going on at 2 in the morning.


Banana Cream Pie

1 pie crust

Filling
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 TBSP cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2-1/2 cups whole milk (I used 1%)
2 TBSP unsalted butter, cut in TBSP's
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, medium sized
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Garnish
1-3/4 cups whipping cream
3 TBSP powdered sugar
1/2 vanilla extract
3 TBSP English toffee bits

Line your pie plate with pie crust and blind bake your crust for about 10-15 minutes until it is golden brown. Let cool on wire rack. For banana filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until well combined; set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a gentle boil over medium-low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk about 1/2 cup of hot milk into the egg mixture, then return the yolk mixture to saucepan with milk in it. Do this to temper the eggs so they won't scramble. Place pan over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in butter pats until melted. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Quickly strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. This will catch all the little pieces that didn't blend in completely and makes a smooth custard. Half-fill a large bowl with ice cubes and add cold water to cover ice cubes. Place the smaller bowl of custard in the ice 'bath' and allow to cool, stirring occasionally, for several minutes. Peel the bananas and slice them 1/4 inch thick into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and toss gently to cover all the slices. Arrange the banana slices in an even layer over the bottom of the pie crust, pressing them into the crust slightly. Scrape the custard filling over the banana pieces and smooth the top with an off-set spatula or the back of a large spoon. Refrigerate the pie for at least 3 hours before garnishing.

For topping, in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream on medium-low speed for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and add the sugar and vanilla. Beat until the cream forms soft peaks. Scrape the cream into a pastry bag fitted with the star tip. Pipe cream over the custard in large rosettes, covering it completely. Sprinkle with the toffee bits.

As you can see in my photo, I didn't do the whipped cream garnish as I was taking it to work that night. I brought a can of the spray stuff so those that wanted cream could have it and those who didn't could pass. Plus I knew the topping would be weepy by the time they ate it 16 hours later. Dude said it was fantastic and wants it to be marked a keeper. The next time I do it, I will make it for dessert for a get together with friends and use the topping.

Unfortunately my brother's Dad did pass away this weekend. His wake was tonight and his funeral is tomorrow. I didn't do the wake, but will be driving up to the Cities tomorrow morning for the funeral. I realized yesterday that I had finished cleaning out my work closet and didn't have any dress pants left that were not capri's and didn't think a dress was an option. I decided to visit Marshall's as I have never shopped there before. Let me tell you, I had a blast! I have lost about 22 pounds since I started working in a factory so was able to shop in the misses department for the first time in a long time. You girls know how happy that makes us! I went for pants. Came home with black dress pants, yoga pants for our trip to be comfy on the plane, a darling pair of black almost-patent leather peep-toe pumps, a blouse, a cow-inspired print spring dress coat, a new exercise outfit, sunglasses, some fun elbow length rubber gloves, a microplane for cheese/chocolate, some candles, a body scrub and some good smelling kitchen soap. Dude looked at me and said "Um, I thought pants were on the list. This looks like more than pants". Then I whipped out the reusable shopping bag I bought for him-in a giraffe print! I redeemed myself!

Have a good weekend and Happy Valentines Day! We work, but we are getting our winter dinner catered in on Friday night. It is a pasta bar with meatballs, chicken and another type of protein that I can't remember. Guess I can sleep in Friday since I don't have to get up and make us lunch to pack up!

If there is booze in it, it must be good

I love pecan pie. I don't like many desserts (thank goodness or I'd have even more of a weight problem) but I love pecan pie. After a couple of pumpkin recipes I thought I deserved to make a treat for work that I liked. I took bits and pieces of different recipes and tried this. The pictures suck as I had to sneak my small digital camera into work and snap the photos on the table. They don't do it justice.

Pecan Bourbon Pie

1 pie crust, either homemade or store bought

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

3 TBSP brown sugar

1 cup corn syrup

3 eggs

2 TBSP bourbon

1 cup pecans, slightly broken

Place pie crust in pie plate. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Beat all ingredients except pecans in a bowl by hand. Stir in pecans. Pour into crust and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until set. My pecans got a little brown so I should have covered the pie with some foil for the first 10 to 15 minutes, but it was still pretty darn tasty!

I want to wish each and every one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. May it be filled with love, food, laughter and those you love.

Our nephew deploys tomorrow to Kuwait. We are thankful we have such a brave and selfless man. God Speed Riley. Keep your head down, your eyes open and thoughts of your wife waiting back here for you. We love you!

Caramel Apple Pie

I'm back from my weekend shopping trip and had a fabulous time! Besides spending all day with my BFF from high school, I was also able to meet my cousin and one of his friends for lunch and cocktail as they were shopping at Mall of America also. I finished shopping for Drama Queen, I am about 90 percent done with Hermit Crab, and I need just a few things for Dude. After I post, I'm off to order some car things for him. He is so hard to shop for!



I said that I would be posting a pumpkin roll and a bourbon pecan pie, and I will soon, but I didn't have enough pecans and I had already been to town and didn't feel like making another trip for just some nuts. My friend Scott from work had brought me a bag of Harrelson apples so I found the recipe that was a big hit at a family party about a year and a half ago. It is from Ree Drummond-The Pioneer Woman. I changed it a bit to comply with requests from the family from the first time I made it. In it's original form it was delightful, I just tried to make it fit into my family's tastes a little more.




Caramel Apple Pie
(I think she calls it Scrumptious Apple Pie?)



1 refrigerate pie crust
6 to 7 cups cored, peeled and sliced tart apples
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup sugar
4 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking spice-not in original recipe
1 tsp. cinnamon-not in original recipe
Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1-1/2 sticks butter, slightly soft
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping *her recipe calls for 1/2 a jar, and also 1/2 cup of pecans


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, salt, baking spice and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. For crumb topping, cut butter into flour. Add brown sugar and oats. Place pie crust in pie tin. Pour in apple mixture. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top of apples.
Place pie protector (or tin foil strips) over crust and bake for 25 minutes. Remove protector/tin foil and bake for another 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 minutes and then drizzle with caramel topping.



I didn't add walnuts this time since Bob will probably want some tomorrow night at work and he doesn't like nuts (he is spoiled) and I don't use as much caramel topping as Ree does as my family thought it overwhelmed the pie to much. All they tasted was caramel and not the apples. I also used the spices to make it taste more like an apple pie.

I also made a pan of bars for Drama Queen. She likes regular apple pie-well, mainly she likes the crust, but since this has a crisp-like topping, she may try it as she likes apple crisp. To appease her in case she doesn't want to try it or doesn't like it, I made one of favorite bars.

Peanut Butter M & M Bars

1 package dry peanut butter cookie mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1 egg
1 TBSP water
3 TBSP oil
1/3 cup M & M's

Stir together cookie mix, egg, water and oil until combined. Stir in candy until dispersed well in the dough. Pat into a brownie pan (10x8). Bake at 350 degrees F. for 22 minutes.

Ahhh, nothing like the smell of peanut butter baking!

I probably won't see you until towards the end of the week since this starts our long week at work. I am off to find some of my favorite bar recipes as we are having a bake sale/craft sale and luncheon at our church the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. There is a huge tree farm about 4 miles south of our church and many people travel from the Twin Cities to come get trees. We offer them a place to grab some good lunch, pick up some treats and a place to 'powder their nose'. Since we are going to visit Hermit Crab that weekend, I need to have my treats ready to go beforehand. My neighbor, who is hosting us for Turkey Day, offered to bring in my stuff as she is working the sale. I love a good bake sale.......

They were eating out of my hand

Well, almost.

When I saw this posted on Noble Pig, I knew it would put to perfect use the apples I had received from a co-worker, whose family owns a local apple orchard. Cathy had seen the recipe over at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary. Every person who tried this pie could not say enough good things about it. You will see two pies above (and below). One of my co-workers does not like nuts, so I totally spoiled him and made him his own pie. Yeah, I'm crazy like that.

Upside Down Apple Pie

6 TBSP butter, melted and divided * see notes below

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla extract * not in original recipe*

2 refrigerated pie crusts

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking spice *not in original recipe*

5 large apples, and for the life of me I can't remember what kind I used, but Scott brought me crisp apples for baking-peeled, cored and sliced into pieces, mine were about 1/3 inch slices

Coat a deep dish pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. I used my Grandma's tin deep dish pan, which is about a quarter inch deeper than my Pyrex deep dish pan. Line pie plate with parchment paper and coat that with the cooking spray also.

In a small bowl, combine 4 TBSP melted butter, the brown sugar, vanilla and the pecans. Mix well and spread onto parchment paper. Cover with one of the pie crusts, pressing the crust into the topping and up the sides of the pan. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking spice (if using) and remaining butter. Mix well. Add apple slices and stir gently to combine. Spoon into pie crust. Top with remaining crust and fold the crust over other crust and crimp or press edges to seal all the juicy goodness inside. Put small slits on the crust to vent. Place on a baking sheet and place in a 375 degree F. oven. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Mine baked about 70 minutes.

After baking, let pie cool for 5 minutes, then place a plate larger than the pie over the top and invert so now the pecan caramel topping is face up.

Prepare for oodles of ooohs and aaaahs from your adoring fans.

**Notes: I used a full half cup of butter and upped the brown sugar by a couple tablespoons because I wanted to make sure I had enough of the topping to use in my single serve pie for Bob.


Also-use a baking sheet under the pie. I used my regular pie guard and because of the parchment paper sticking out over the sides of the pie dish, the caramel crawled up and over and was not caught by the pie guard. Lesson learned.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

How many of you, besides Bob have tried to type a post with a cat on your lap? How about a kitten who is possessed by magic jumping beans? He is licking my fingers as I just ate a piece of pizza. Silly Tofu!

I made a blueberry pie from scratch this past weekend as a part of my dessert trio for work. As I had mentioned in the last post, I have made many blueberry pies for Dude, as it is his favorite. I have never made one from fresh blueberries. I found a really pretty looking pie in Food Network magazine, but it called for 7 cups of blueberries, and cooking some of them, etc. Not enough time. Found one in my old Betty Crocker cookbook and one in a church cookbook. I kind of winged it with a little from this one, a little from that one, etc. I'm guessing on the measurements, other than the amount of blueberries, sugar and tapioca, as those I measured.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

dough for a 2 crust pie

2 pints blueberries, washed, stemmed and picked over for bad ones

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup instant tapioca

2-3 TBSP pure maple syrup

approximately 1/2 cup water

grated lemon peel from one lemon

juice from one lemon

1 tsp cinnamon

raw sugar

heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients except pie crust dough. Mix with spatula to incorporate all ingredients. Stir several times over the next 20 minutes so tapioca will soften. Roll dough into bottom of pie plate. Fill with the filling, then cover with top crust. Crimp crusts together and vent top crust. Brush the crust with the cream and sprinkle with the raw (Turbanino sugar). Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. I cover the rim of my pie with a pie crust protector. If you don't have one, make a ring out of tin foil and cover edges so they don't get burnt. Remove protector after 30 minutes. Depending on the day and your oven, it will take 35 to 45 minutes to get crust golden brown and the fruit filling bubbly.

I didn't get a photo of it cut as I basically took it out of oven and put it in the carrier and left for work, so here is the pan after the savages at work got through with the pie!

I cheated........

I had fully planned on making pies from scratch. Until I looked at the price of organic blueberries and the pathetic baking apples in the grocery store. I know, face it Tami, you live dead center of the USA where we won't be producing good, edible produce for another 6 months. Ugh. So, I turned to canned fruit to bake pies. I have to say, they were brought to work last night and all were gone by 1 AM. Lots of compliments, so not a terrible idea I guess. Of course, maybe these people never get actual 'from scratch' desserts other than what I bring in. Yeah, I run with that idea.

My hubby's favorite pie, probably, is blueberry. When we went to visit his grandparents, Grandma Baker always had a blueberry pie waiting for the Dude. He would scarf that baby down like no body's business. Of course, when we met he weighed about 135 pounds and is about 5'10". Hee hee hee, after almost 20 years of marriage, I have put about 35 more pounds on him-which he needed. He looked awfully bony when I got him. I digress. Blueberry. I think it conjures up happy memories for him, so I make it a lot for him. Since I was disappointed with the lemon meringue and banana cream pies I brought in last week, I felt I had to redeem myself.

I do zhuzz (how do you even spell that sound?) the canned fruit up with other ingredients.

Blueberry Pie

2 cans blueberry pie mix

fresh lemon zest

water

sugar

Apple Pie

2 cans apple pie mix

fresh ground nutmeg

cinnamon

water

sugar

Roll out dough for 2-2 crust pies. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar in pie plate. Lay bottom crust over sugar and press down into pan. Pour in two cans of the blueberries.

Zest the lemon over filling

Cut decorative top (I have two different designs-I'm not very artistic)

Lay on top of filling

Spritz with water

Sprinkle with another tablespoon or two of sugar

Apple Pie

Assemble crust like above, with sugar in pie plate

Pour in two cans of apple pie filling

Run the nutmeg over a microplane all over the pie-don't use too much

Sprinkle with full strength cinnamon

Top with second crust

Spritz and sprinkle with sugar.

Cover edges of pies with crust protectors. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, then remove crust protectors and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Normally with the apple pie, I sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the top, but my jar was empty and I didn't want to stop to make more, so I just did regular sugar on this one.

I had to cut a piece for Hermit Crab so she wouldn't get mad


Oh so juicy

Smelled incredible, but no pie for me. I will have to make my pecan one to post. Of course, I will have to make it when I have to work or I'll eat that sucker all by myself (my hubby and kids don't like pecan). Then I'll gain 35 pounds!

Bye bye Ms. Lemon Meringue Pie

Last week when I made the Rocky Road bars, I said that the recipe came from a cookbook that the Dude gave me several years ago. He picked it up because it had a recipe for Lemon Meringue pie. It is one of his favorites and I have made it many times. Not real often as it is a little labor intensive. I made two pies Tuesday to bring to work on Wednesday. Randy likes pie, but eating a whole pie probably isn't a good thing to do and I only like Pecan and chocolate mousse. I should have known things wouldn't go well when I tried to make the crust and it fell apart. Thankfully I had backup in the fridge: refrigerated pie crusts. The filling went great, so I thought. I had a small problem with the stabilizer for the meringue topping and had to redo that. The meringue whipped up fine. I covered that bad boy from edge to edge making sure I covered every speck of filling. Baked it off, put it on the rack to cool. Covered it and put it in the fridge with the other cooled pie. Got to work-the meringue had shrunk away from the edges and the filling got all watery. They downed both pies and said they liked them, even if it kind of looked like soup. I have no idea what happened. My ingredients were all fresh. I have made it before with stellar results. No idea. I think maybe I should not drink rum and cokes while baking? My husband-trying to be helpful-said "maybe you used old stuff" 'maybe you used 1 cup when you should have used 1/2 a cup' 'maybe you used flour and not cornstarch'. I told him I know how to read and maybe he should stop talking.

Here is the recipe anyway. It is normally fantastic-and pretty. From Diner Desserts:

Sky High Lemon Meringue Pie

1 fully baked pie crust

1-1/2 cups sugar

6 TBSP cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

1-1/2 cup water

5 large egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue)

2 tsp grated lemon zest

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3 TBSP butter cut into tablespoons

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Meringue Topping:

4 tsp cornstarch

1/3 cup water

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 egg whites (from the eggs used up in filling)

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup superfine sugar (I always use regular)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place rack in upper third of the oven. Make sure pie crust is baked and fully cooled. To make lemon filling, in a medium nonreactive saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and salt until well combined. Gradually whisk in the water until smooth. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Remove pan from heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cornstarch mixture into the yolks, then return the yolk mixture to the saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly. Continue to boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute or until very thick. Remove from heat and whisk in the lemon zest and juice and butter, whisking until butter is completely melted. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Leave filling in saucepan while preparing meringue topping. To make the meringue topping, in a small saucepan, combine the cornstarch and water. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds or until translucent. Whisk in vanilla. Remove from heat and set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until frothy. Add the salt and cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium-high. Beat the whites while gradually adding the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat the whites on high speed until they are glossy but not dry. Whisk a scoop of the beaten whites into the cornstarch paste until blended. On low speed, beat the cornstarch mixture into the remaining whites, 1 tablespoon at a time. Increase speed back to medium-high and whip just until stiff peaks form. To assemble pie, place the pan containing the filling back on the heat to reheat for a minute. Scrape the hot mixture into the baked pie crust and smooth the top. Scrape the meringue into a pastry bag and using a large star tip, pipe high dollops of meringue on top, covering the filling completely, or pile it on the pie and spread over pie edge to edge with the back of a spoon (which is what I did). Bake pie for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temp or chilled.

Before baking-edge to edge

Looks good here, only I like it a little more brown. Hubby offered to let me use the torch, but I declined-rum being on the counter and all.

Off to bed-working some OT again. I'm ordering that new camera this weekend. My Dad bought his from a place in New York so I am ordering it through there-the best deal we could find with lots of extras. Please let it help with the photos!