Granny’s Lemon Meringue Pie
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
Combine sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt in a bowl – mix well. Heat water to a boil in a saucepan, lower heat. Add sugar mixture to the water stirring constantly. Cook stirring constantly 5 –7 minutes or until mixture holds a line when cut with a spoon. Remove from heat – do not let mixture boil. Separate eggs – beat egg yolks – stir in a generous ½ cup of hot mixture then quickly stir egg mixture back into saucepan, cook stirring constantly over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until mixture thickens again and mounds softly. Remove from heat and stir in lemon rind, lemon juice and butter until completely blended. Pour into pie shell.
Meringue
Beat egg whites with lemon extract until foamy – white and double in volume. Beat in ½ cup sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) until meringue forms soft peaks. Put meringue on filling – spreading to edges of crust – this keeps the meringue from shrinking. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Cool 4 – 5 hours before using – this lets it set – will be runny if eat it earlier.