About the Recipe
Leif's mother's favorite, as made by her mother-in-law.
Ingredients
Filling
1 firm baked pie shell
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup corn starch
1½ cup boiling water
3 beaten egg yolks
3 Tbsp melted butter
⅓ cup lemon juice
½ tsp lemon zest (grated rind)
Topping
6 egg whites
6 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp cream of tartar
1 dash lemon juice (optional)
Preparation
Mix butter, juice, and rind, set aside. Mix sugar and starch in already-boiling double boiler. Stirring constantly, add water and bring back to boiling. Cook 1 minute, add small part of hot mix to beaten yolks, then add yolks to hot mix. Cook another minute, add lemon mix, stir well and continuously until it mounds when dropped from spoon. Pour into baked pie shell and set aside.
Beat tartar, lemon juice, and egg whites, adding sugar slowly. Quickly beat to soft peaks. Put filling in pie crust. Cover the filled pie shell with meringue, spreading meringue around edges first (make sure meringue touches crust all the way around) and then filling in center. Use spreading paddle to make decorative peaks on surface. Preheat oven to 350°F or 375°F; brown 15 to 20 minutes.