Pretty much my entire family loves Lemon Meringue Pie. My parents, my grandparents, my in-laws, my husband, my brothers, my sisters-in-law…actually, that’s everyone. I decided to get adventurous last Memorial Day and attempt one of these beauties. The attempt went well. The pie was devoured.

I made one for Christmas Eve this year, since it’s my Grandpa’s absolute favorite pie EVER, and a general hit.

So how do I make it?

First, get this book.

This book has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. I think every young bride needs one. It has a huge variety of recipes and is great for basics. It even teaches techniques.

Open it to this page.

Commence pie making!

This is a good, classic, pretty much foolproof Lemon Meringue recipe. When in doubt, I go with the classics.

A couple of things I’ve learned:

Frozen crust is a pain in the paskooniac. Just when you think it’s thawed enough to unroll into the pie dish, it’s still frozen in the middle, and it cracks. Then it cracks as the pie bakes and leaks filling under the crust. And that is not nice. So next time, homemade pie crust.

Alton Brown was right – dried beans make excellent pie weights.

The crust may have cracked on me, but not a single bubble formed when I blind-baked it before adding the filling. And I did not prick it with a fork. See, when you prick the crust, even if it doesn’t crack it still might leak. And that’s not a happy thing. So. Pie weights. Beans. Good thing.

There is no – absolutely no! – substitute for fresh lemon juice.

Or fresh lemon zest. But I don’t know how you would go about getting non-fresh lemon zest. Anyway. I’m at the point now where I will buy lemons as I need them for recipes instead of the little lemon-shaped bottles of juice, because it just tastes better. Except I need some kind of little lemon juicing device. Because hand-juicing enough lemons for what I need for that pie makes my hands cramp. Oh, and I always add just a touch more lemon zest than the recipe calls for. Folks I know like their Lemon Meringue on the tart side.

If all goes according to plan, THIS is what you will end up with:

This is right after I took the pie out of the oven. I always set my pies on a rack to cool, so they cool evenly.

Alas, the gorgeousness did not last! I think I needed to leave this pie in the oven for a few more minutes to set the meringue more, because as it cooled, that beautiful mound of white fluffiness deflated. Sad face.

Until next time, Lemon Meringue Pie!