A note about lemon pie

As some of you know, I have had a little bit of lemon pie drama over the last few days. To sum it up, I baked two lemon merengue pies for a potluck thing I went to and NOBODY ate any. To be fair, as I have mentioned previously, presentation is not my strong suit. And there was about 80 million tons of cookies there as well as two other lemon pies, which were clearly prettier. (although I had a piece, mine was yummier. Tarter and lemonier. Is that a word?)

Anyhoo, so I had almost two whole pies at home in the fridge. The next day, Monday, we went for dinner and I brought potato salad, and I thought I better bring the one whole pie as well. So I put it at the top of the stairs and went back to get my purse, and Ian had squashed the whole pie. It looked awful. So I left it at home.

I had a good run at it, but by today, there was still half a pie left, and the merengue was all melted and the whole thing was a runny mess, so I just chucked it.

Anyhoo, some of you have had this pie, and it is actually my most requested item. Sadly, I can't take credit for the sweet lemony perfection. I even tried to make one for Easter, but didn't have the recipe, and the pie I made was a sorry shadow of my usual ray of sunshine.

So I will hereby provide one and all with my deep dark secret: I got it from Company's Coming. Yep, Holiday Entertaining, page 57. Plus I use Tenderflake crust. (It's not that I CAN'T make my own pie crust, I just CHOOSE not to.) It is the most ridiculously easy recipe on the planet, it is easier and less time consuming than using a mix, and it always turns out. I barely even modify it; the only thing I do differently is I add some grated lemon zest. Oh and I always add some extra egg whites to the merengue. I love merengue. It only takes 3 lemons (about; it depends on their size and juicyness) and 3-5 eggs. and a pie crust. (obviously there are other ingredients, but I have them on hand all the time, and I don't have to run out and buy them specially) So it is a cheap dessert when I am low on cash but still want to make a good impression.

So there you have it folks. My deep dark secret!