All Challenges Should Involve A Torch

Jen, The Canadian Baker chose Lemon Meringue Pie as this month’s Daring Baker Challenge. I’ve been getting quite a few requests for lemon meringue pie lately so it seemed only fitting that I make mini pies so that I could dole them out to everyone who had asked for some. For late comers though, there was nothing. I had two people ask me a week later for lemon meringue pie, completely unaware that I had just made some. I told them to blame Kmac for stealing them all and to pick something else, I don’t like repeats.

Kmac, (previously of Happy Random Pie Day fame) got most of the pies, but that’s only fair as she helped make them. And by ‘help make them’, I mean she came over and brought butter, eggs, lemons and sour keys, (hey, we needed some snacks) and then sat on the couch and read a trashy gossip magazine, while I made the pies. She provided valuable entertainment and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the best kind of help. And the groceries. If anyone buys me groceries I’ll make whatever they want, repeat or no. So Kmac bought the groceries and I made the pie and we were both happy with that until the end of the pie making process when Kmac’s interest perked up. You see, that’s when I brought out my pretty blue torch and then she wanted to play in the kitchen too. Luckily, I had extra meringue so I let Kmac torch the meringue that was not going to leave my house and be seen by the world at large. It’s a good thing I had leftovers because unlike myself who was trying to make pretty designs on the meringue, Kmac’s goal seemed to be to create black lumps of coal. She had lots of fun doing it too.

When I was done making the pies, I gave them to Kmac in a plastic dome topped tray and sent her off into a cold and wintry night. I told her to message me when she got home to make sure that the tarts survived the trip. The message that I got was priceless:

“The pies made it fine, however... the pie top flew off around Bloor St and Bathurst St, damn wind tunnel. So I put the pies on the sidewalk and ran after the lid. I retrieved it and no one ate the pies :)”

I love that she just set a tray of lemon meringue pies down on the slushy sidewalk and ran off to fetch the flyaway lid. I almost wish someone had stolen her pies, just because it would have made for a better story. I guess this way I got to hear about what everyone thought of their pie. I’ve become convinced though that most people are simply happy to receive something homemade so it doesn’t really matter if it’s all that great. I’m much more critical. The pies were well received by all who had them but I had some reservations about the filling. It was tasty, but if the pie sat for any length of time, a layer of water developed on top of the lemon. I suppose if you ate them immediately after assembling, that wouldn’t be a problem. I ate my pie in stages though and every time I went back to have some more there was another layer of watery stuff on top of the lemon. I’ve heard that I’m not the only person who had this problem and that extra cornstarch might be a possible solution. I probably won’t ever know, cause like I said, I don’t like repeats.

Hopefully you don’t mind seeing repeats as much as I mind making them because there’s going to be a whole lot of Lemon Meringue Pie out there. If you want to know exactly where to find it, check the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

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Daring Bakers + Pie + Lemon Meringue + Lemon