Pucker up, sweet one! This one is loaded with lemon flavor and capped with a glossy, Italian-style meringue. It's for those who really love their lemon meringue pie. Took a blue ribbon in 1997.

Lemon Lover's Lemon Meringue Pie

Prep Time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Baking Time: 12 minutes
Serves: 8
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Ingredients

9” pie shell, blind baked and cooled

Filling:

8 lemons, juiced (1 1/2 cups)
5 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
3 whole eggs
3/4 c. unsalted butter
1c.+ 1T.sugar

Meringue

1 c. sugar
2/3 c. water
6 egg whites

Directions

Filling:

Finely grate the zest from 3 lemons; set aside (keep lemons).
Squeeze the lemons and strain into a measuring cup to total 1 & 1/2 cups juice.
Whisk the egg yolks with the whole eggs.
Cut the butter into small pieces.
Using a heavy-bottomed saucepan, mix the sugar, lemon zest and butter; add the lemon juice and stir to mix.
Whisk over low heat until the sugar has dissolved (2-3 minutes).
Remove from heat and whisk a little of the sugar/lemon juice mix into in the beaten eggs, then whisk the egg mix into the sauce pan to blend.
Return to low heat and cook gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it coats the back of the spoon (4-6 minutes).
Strain lemon filling; set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 375°
Spoon the cooled filling into a prebaked pastry shell and bake until the filling just starts to set (10-12 minutes).
Transfer to a rack to cool, then chill until topping with the meringue. Lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools.

Meringue:

Mix sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Over medium heat, bring to a boil, and boil without stirring, until syrup reaches the hard-ball stage (248° F). This takes a while (maybe 15-20 minutes or more)! Don't stir it!
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites – slowly at first, then faster – until stiff peaks form.
When the syrup is ready, slowly pour it into the beaten egg whites, continuing to beat. Avoid pouring the syrup onto the bowl or beaters – aim for the whites.
Continue beating until the meringue is cool and stiff, about 5 minutes.
Preheat the broiler and adjust a rack so that the top of the meringue will be 3” from the heat.
Decorate the pie with meringue, making sure to “attach” it to the crust. I spread a layer of meringue flat over the lemon curd, then pipe on the rest in swirls.
Broil the meringue until it is golden brown (1-2 minutes), watching carefully.
Cool and serve at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers, if there are any.

Baker’s Notes and Tips and Tricks

You’ll need a candy thermometer for this recipe, to get the sugar syrup to the hard-ball stage. You’ll need patience, too, as this recipe takes longer than most. (It’s worth it.) Also, the hot syrup -- in effect -- cooks the egg whites, ensuring that the whites are cooked to a safe temperature, which is why we can get away with just broiling the meringue to brown it instead of baking it for 10-12 minutes.