revisiting chapter one

as i work on recipes, susan edits them. part of the process includes looking at the sections/chapters and assessing them-are they balanced or lacking? do they include a variety or simply a couple recipes being manipulated over and over? thankfully, chapter one is in pretty good shape and only in need of a few minor changes. one thing that shouted out to susan was the absence of a lemon meringue pie. honestly, it wasn't a big deal to me but it left the chapter lacking a little variety, so you know what happened next; i made lemon meringue pie much in the same way as i do when i make it at the cafe. if you have had it at the cafe then you know that i favor individual lemon meringue pies and not big ones-and that means no cutting of meringue in the bakery. it also means that if you order the little pie, you get all of the meringue right on top just as it should be.

it doesn't get any easier than this-purchased 3" pie shells, baked and ready to be filled.

lovely and tart lemon curd, home made or purchased-you decide. i went with home made

a mountain of meringue to salivate over. be sure to whip it only until the peaks are stiff but still droop a little.

fill the crusts with the lemon curd

dollop the meringue on top, use a spoon to seal it to the edges and then make the little peaks by tapping the spoon to the meringue and pulling it away quickly

a quick trip in the oven to brown the tops

mmm...lemony meringue pies