Lemon Meringue Pie

Oh Yeah baby!  My pal Ernie has a great lemon tree in his back yard.  So when life (or Ernie) gives you lemons you make lemonade, right?  Wrong!!  You make lemon meringue pie baby, yeah!  Follow me and you shall see, the pie that's tart and (with 4 eggs), hard on the heart!  WOO!  Here's how it went tonight.

My Ingredients:  (Pie Filling)
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest (We got a nice new zester today for this trick)
1/4 tsp salt
1 9" pie crust (I used a store bought, ready to cook crust)

My Method:
CRUST:
Remove your ready made pie crust from the freezer and let it thaw for about 20 minutes.  Prick the bottom and sides when thawed with a fork or pin roller.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Bake the pie shell for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and set aside.
FILLING:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
Place you oven rack to the middle position.
In a mixing bowl, whisk your 4 egg yolks and set them aside.
In a medium sized sauce pan combine your water, sugar salt and cornstarch, whisk until well blended.  Turn on your fire or heat to a medium level or setting, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil.  Continue mixing after bringing to a boil for about one more minute, until the mixture is very thick.  Now remove the pan from the heat and mix in about 1/2 of the contents to your whisked egg yolks.  Mix in a few tbsp or whisks full at a time until about 1/2 the mixture has been added to the eggs.  Whisk well until a beautiful yellow color.
Return the sauce pan to the heat and adjust to a low setting, whisking constantly and begin adding your egg mixture back to the sauce pan.  When all the mixture has been combined, cook for 1-1 1/2 minutes until very thick and nicely yellow.  Remove the sauce pan from the heat and gently stir in your butter, lemon zest and lemon juice and whisk until well blended.  Now, pour (while still HOT) lemon filling into the pie crust.
MERINGUE TOPPING:
4 egg whites
2 tbsp granulated sugar

In a copper bowl (if you have one) or a regular mixing bowl, pour your egg whites and beat for several minutes at a very fast pace (high speed if you are using an electric mixer) until the egg whites are "foamy" and make small peaks when you pull out your beater.  At this point slowly incorporate your sugar, whisking or mixing rapidly.  Continue to whip the egg whites for about 2 more minutes at a rapid pace until the meringue forms nice 1" peaks when you remove your whisk.  (This is terror on the arms with a whisk).  Electric mixers make the job much easier.  Now using a rubber spatula, add the meringue to the top of your pie filling, spreading it out evenly to the edge of the crust.  You can try and add a few small peaks to the meringue for a decorative look if you like (see photo).

Place your finished pie in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes until the meringue is a golden brown.  Remove from the oven and rest the pie for about an hour at room temp and then refrigerate for a few hours.  Now, it's ready to enjoy!