“The century was young, the horseless carriage was making a
tentative appearance, and ladies’ skirts still swept the ground in the early
1900s when this classic recipe was printed on the Argo Cornstarch package.” So
reads the introduction to this recipe in Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Jars, a book we found
on our shelves when we were searching for a good lemon meringue pie recipe. We
actually had Argo cornstarch in our pantry, and guess what? They are still
printing this recipe on the back!
The lemon kept trying to be the center of attention and get in
all the pictures.
The first thing I did was prepare the crust. I know, we have a
great pie crust recipe, but this was back in 2010 when we were just getting
started with pie-making, and I went frozen.
Even if I had made this pie crust, I still would have poked
holes all around it using a fork – this way it doesn’t puff up when you bake it
without a filling inside it, as I was going to do here.
Next step: making the lemon filling!
This basically involves a lot of stirring and waiting.
Yep, about 10 minutes of constant stirring.
Before you know it, it will look like this!
Set it aside while you grate some lemon peel and measure out
some lemon juice to add to it. It smells so good!
Then pour it into the pie crust! And this is what a lemon pie
would look like.
But we’re not making a lemon pie; this is a lemon meringue
pie! And a meringue requires lots and lots of beating.
It took us about half an hour to get these “stiff peaks” to
form. And we tried to help the process along by refrigerating the bowl
beforehand. It just takes patience.
I carefully followed the recipe’s instructions to spread the
meringue all around the outside of the pie first (touching the crust) before
covering the inside.
Then I made it look pretty before sending it for a quick trip
to the oven.
Doesn't the color remind you of a toasted marshmallow? (P.S.
Yes, I think my photography skills have improved a little since 2010!)
I am not a huge fan of meringue, but this was a delicious pie.
It’s just classic springtime.
It’s a good thing we didn’t have this much left over for long –
I had heard that the meringue is not as good the next day.
Lemon Meringue Pie (recipe from
Argo Cornstarch)
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1½ cups cold water
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 lemon’s grated rind
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tbsp. butter
3 egg whites
⅓ cup sugar
- Stir together 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in egg yolks. Stirring constantly, bring to boil over medium heat and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat.
- Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice, and butter. Cool. Turn into pastry shell.
- Beat egg whites until foamy in small bowl with mixer at high speed. Add ⅓ cup sugar, 1 tbsp. at a time, beating well after every addition. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Spread some meringue around edge of filling, first touching crust all around, then fill center.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Cool on wire rack at room temperature for 30 minutes; refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.
Do you still have that box I'm looking for the butter shortbread recipe that used to be there along side the meringue pie. Grateful if you have it and could share :)
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