Make lemon meringue pie! It's summer and the warm sunny days of the season brings back memories of homemade lemonade and lemon meringue pies. Or should I say lemon custards with meringue. My grandmother used to make “pie” for me sans the crust in bright royal blue ramekins. I hated pie crust as a child and would eat the lemon filling and the meringue of course, but leave my pie shell on the plate. So it came to her one day to just eliminate the crust. The following is my grandmother’s recipe, one of the few I have not tweaked in anyway. She got this one right the first time!

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

1 ½ cups sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1½ cups water
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
5 egg whites beaten to stiff peaks with 3 tablespoons of sugar
3 Tablespoons butter
¼ cup lemon juice
1 Tablespoon lemon zest (optional)

Mix sugar and corn starch in a saucepan. Gradually stir in water, bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Mixture will begin to thicken. Boil for one full minute, stirring constantly. Slowly stir in about ½ the hot mixture into the egg yolks. Then blend that mix into the rest of the sugar mixture in the saucepan. Boil on minute longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Continue to stir as you add in the butter and the lemon juice and zest. Continue to stir until the mixture is smooth. Pour into pie shell (or ramekins as the case may be) and cover with the meringue. Bake until the meringue is golden brown. Serve as soon as the pie cools.

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