Pre-Thanksgiving

Today is the first day before Thanksgiving that I haven't had to work. I spent it baking and being thankful that I don't have Stage IV Hodgkins Lymphoma like the girl in this blog (warning: don't read unless you want to bawl your eyes out...I also spent my day doing that).

Anyways, the other day I asked Tom what he wanted for dessert on Thanksgiving and he replied "Lemon Meringue Pie." I got excited, because I was expecting him to say "I don't know, whatever you want." So when he gave me a specific answer, I immediately started searching my favorite recipe site and found this recipe. I have never tried to bake a lemon meringue (or any meringue) pie before, so I was determined to thoroughly read through the instructions (something I've been known to skim) and prepare everything before I actually started baking.

I decided to make my own pie crust because I need one anyways to make Pioneer Woman's Turkey Pot Pie with my leftover turkey. And PW's pie crust recipe makes 2. So perfect. So I did that first (I actually made 4 and froze 2 for future use). Easy. Done. Then I started to get everything ready for the pie. I did a little research and read up on all of the tips left on the recipe site. I tried to time everything perfect, because several people said if you put the hot lemon mixture into a hot pie shell, and then put the meringue on the hot lemon filling, you will get the best results. That's great if you have 3 people to make each thing simultaneously! But it was just me, so I did the best I could.

Everything was going surprisingly well....until it was time to make the meringue. I did everything exactly like the recipe said, but no matter how fast and furiously I whipped the meringue, little stiff peaks were definitely NOT forming. I turned on the mixer and let it do it's magic for a few minutes. Still no peaks. Still gooey. I googled "How to make meringue thicker" and watched several instructional videos. I did everything they said, and after 15 minutes of using the hand mixer, the meringue was still a liquidy mess. I gave up and poured it onto the top of the pie, popped it in the oven, and just hoped for the best.

I think it came out okay, but there were not any cute little decorative peaks. During some of my "research" I learned that meringue does not like humidity/moisture. Wouldn't you know it was raining off and on all day. One website even said not to bother making meringue on rainy days. Good to know. I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow!!