Lemon Meringue (Cream) Pie

This is my mother's recipe for Lemon Meringue (Cream)Pie that I have adapted for the microwave. I made it for the first time with Meyer Lemons.

Meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. Aren't they gorgeous?
 

Mom's Lemon Cream Pie 

2 cups boiling water
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 tbs corn starch
5 tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt


4 egg yolks
1/3 cup lemon juice + rind
2 tbs butter


Add hot water to dry ingredients and rind, microwave on high 5 minutes until thickened. Add 1/2 cup hot pudding to egg yolks and return to bowl with butter and juice. Microwave med low 5 minutes until thickened. Cool 5 minutes stirring twice. Pour into a 10" baked pie shell.



Beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff. Add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. Add 1/2 cup sugar slowly. Beat until stands in peaks. Spread meringue on top of lemon pudding.


Bake 400 degrees 15 minutes.


You can use your favorite pie crust recipe. Here is hers.


Flaky Pie Crust Recipe (2 crusts)

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 c shortening

1 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold water 


With pastry blender mix dry ingredients with shortening untik size of peas. Add water.
Roll out. Dock with fork.  Use piece of foil with dried beans to keep bottom flat. Bake 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Remove foil and beans (I use glass marbles) and bake 5 min more if needed.  Cool.

Homemade Pizza

I've been working on perfecting my homemade pizza. Found a new easy pizza dough in the book Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. This is a rather new book by the authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. I loved that book and now I love this one, too. The nice crispy, but chewy dough is easy to mix up. The added bonus is you can do it the day before and keep the dough in the fridge. You can even freeze the dough for later.  Water, all purpose flour, yeast and kosher salt are the only ingredients! That's it. Simple and easy.  Here's my pizzas --one with tomato sauce, mushrooms and peperoni:

 

and a white mushroom pizza:

 

....delicious :)



Try it...you'll like it!

Anyday Cinnamon Rolls

I think I have found the easiest and quite possibly the healthiest cinnamon rolls that I know of. They are so easy that you could make them everyday if you wanted to. I've even made a bunch and froze them. Twenty seconds in the microwave and you have a warm cinnamon roll for breakfast. My family loves them and me for making them :) The dough is just flour, yeast, salt...that's it. No eggs, no butter or oil. Fat-free! The only fat I used was just enough melted smart-balance margarine in making up the cinnamon and sugar filling.

How is it that they are so easy? Well, I use the master bread recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. Here's the link to Zoe and Jeff's blog that shows you how to make the cinnamon rolls. I don't use the brioche dough and I use a simple icing of milk (skim), confectionery sugar and vanilla. I make the peasant bread version substituting 2 cups of whole wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour.You can even make them up the night before and let them rest in the fridge overnight and bake them in the morning.

I also have been making sandwich rolls using the same recipe. I have been freezing the rolls and making up sandwiches with the frozen rolls and then by lunch time it is all thawed out and you have a sandwich on a fresh roll. Delicious. Enjoy :)