As
of this writing, an icebox lemon pie is chilling in the fridge. Mike must have
read our discussion of icebox lemon pie on a previous post. “Would you like me
to make ice cream, or do you think icebox lemon pie would be a nice change of
pace?” Hmmmm.
As it happened, I had plenty of lemons because I had intended to make jelly, but with the current draw on the hummingbird nectar, I couldn’t spare the sugar. And I had an extra can of sweetened condensed milk, plenty of eggs, and a Graham cracker crust, so I agreed to make the pie.
This simple recipe came to me from Bennie, my mother-in-law, and of course, it’s Mike’s favorite, so I don’t mess with it – much. Her recipe calls for ½ cup lemon juice, one can sweetened condensed milk, and two egg yolks for the filling, and then a meringue made with two egg whites. I increased it to three egg yolks and three egg whites, mostly because I want more meringue, but the filling also seems skimpy to me. I think that mid-century a can of condensed milk was several ounces larger.
When
it came time to whip the egg whites, Mike undertook to do it with an old-fashioned
egg beater. He did all right through the “soft peaks” stage, but when I
explained that he had to keep at it until stiff peaks formed, he decided I
could finish with the stand mixer.
It was a good pie. Sorry you weren’t here to help eat it, but at least I provided the recipe so that you can make your own. KW
5 comments:
Hmmm, I think I used to make that about half a century ago! Good reminder! Mmmm...
I have also heard of a similar recipe using a 6-oz. can of lemonade. Remember when we could buy lemonade in 6-oz. cans? And that pie might have called for whipped topping rather than meringue.
Oh -- and we don't use raw eggs the way we used to either. I don't know if this would set up if I used egg subs. I baked the pie for 20 minutes and figured that would satisfy the food perfectionists.
Mike's mother's ice cream recipe called for raw eggs, and I finally convinced him we needed to try egg subs instead. That does work. Maybe it isn't as good but no one gets sick. In researching that recipe online, I found that others had also switched to egg subs. My dad cooked his base -- and used a lot of rich cream.
It looks yummy. I wish I could eat things like that and taste them. Perhaps another day. What is "raw egg"? I thought all eggs were raw unless you cooked them.
That's right. All eggs are raw unless you cook them. The recommendation today is that we not eat raw eggs, even though many of us, mid-century and before, thought nothing much of consuming them.
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