LIME AND BLACKBERRY MERINGUE PIEfeatured

Sometimes I have no game. Like none. Zero. I can usually walk into a room and hold my own when I’m talking to someone, but every once in awhile, my game is off. Like the time I was flirting with a new guy who had just graduated from Harvard and I asked him if his head hurt from holding all of his brains. He didn’t even respond; he just looked at me waiting for me to say something else to make the previous comment go away. Needless to say we never dated.

I had no game when I was making this pie. In fact, I have to start and stop typing this because my finger is throbbing from the massive burn on my index finger from when I stuck it straight into the boiling sugar while I was pouring it into the egg whites. Sometimes, I’m off my cooking game and this was one of those times. I had to make the pie crust multiple times, the lime curd was off so I had to adjust it, and I wasted a dozen eggs because I kept messing up separating the egg whites from the yolks. Add this plus about 15 more ways I messed up together and it was rough. It wasn’t even because the steps were that hard (granted, it’s not a beginners recipe) I was just off. Oh well.

The good news? When I finally got it right, it was worth it. This pie tastes like all the best things about summer. It’s light, tart, sunny and fun. I highly recommend it, just don’t make it on a day you should probably be watching a movie instead of baking.

Recipe: Lime and Blackberry Meringue Pie  |  Soundtrack: Justin Timberlake – The man with the most game who one time wore a denim suit to match his girlfriend Britney’s denim dress. Proof that everyone, even JT, can be off their game once in awhile.

• PIE CRUST (or if you have a recipe you already like, use that, it doesn’t matter for this recipe)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup cider vinager
•  Ice
• LIME CURD
• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• BLACKBERRY COMPOTE
• 1 cup cranberry juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cups blackberries
• MERINGUE
• 6 large egg whites
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Extra blackberries for the top

Directions:

Tip: This recipe makes extra dough so you have plenty to work with if you are just learning how to make pies. If you are a champ already, you will have extra dough. If you have a recipe you already like, go ahead and use it. It doesn’t matter for this recipe.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the cold (this is very important) butter pieces and coat with the flour mixture using a spatula. You can do the next step one of two ways. First option: using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture, working quickly until mainly pea size pieces of butter remain. Be careful not to over blend. Second option: Dump your flour and butter mixture onto a large cutting board and using two bench scrappers, cut in the butter until pea size pieces remain.

Combine the water, cider vinegar, and ice in a large measuring cup or a small bowl. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp at a time over the flour mixture and mix it with a fork until it comes together in a ball with some dry bits remaining. The dough should not feel wet or overly sticky. Squeeze and pinch with your fingertips to bring all the dough together. ** You will not use all of the water mixture. Don’t be alarmed. Stop adding the water once you are barely able to hold the dough together in a ball. Shape the dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

When dough is chilled, remove from the fridge, roll into a circle, place in a pie tin. Make sure the crust fits properly in the pie tin and make sure there is no extra air and that the crust fits the sides. Crimp the edges and place into the fridge or the freezer until completely chilled. Baking a pie crust with no filling can be tricky. It tends to slip and fall when it cooks. I have two ways to avoid that. Once pie is chilled, remove from the fridge or freezer, fill the crust with dry baking beans (black, pinto, etc). Fill it all the way to the top. The other options, is the line just the bottom of the crust with pie weights or beans, place a pie tin that is the same size as the pie tin you are using on top of the beans and bake it that way. So the second pie tin is holding the main pie tin and crust in place.

Regardless of which version you use, when you remove the pie tin with the crust from the fridge or freezer, make sure you take a fork and prick the crust all over. Bake in a preheated 375º oven for 35-40 minutes or until crust is golden. Allow to completely cool on a wire rack.

To Make the Lime Curd:
Before you begin, take a fine mesh strainer and place it over a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place a large pan of water on the stove and bring it to a simmer. Stir lime juice, eggs, egg yolks together in a medium bowl. Set the medium bowl over the simmering pan of water. Whisk until the mixture has thickened. Get ready to sweat because you will need to be whisking continually or you will have sweet scrambled eggs. Ha. Do your best to keep the medium bowl floating on the top of the water and not touching the bottom of the water pan. It’s kind of awkward, but it’s worth it. Put a thermometer on the bowl and keep whisking until it thickens and the thermometer reads 175º. It’s roughly 15 minutes.

After removing the curd from the simmering water, add the butter 1 tbsp at a time whisking between each addition. Pour curd through the fine mesh strainer into the new bowl. Don’t skip over this step. You want the curd to be extra smooth for the pie and this will eliminate any extra thick pieces from the curd. Cover strained curd with plastic wrap and allow to cool in the fridge. This step can be done a couple days ahead if needed.

After the curd has chilled, sprinkle the gelatin over 2 tbsp of water in small bowl. Make sure you put the 2 tbsp of water in first and THEN sprinkle the gelatin. It just works better this way. Trust me. Let the gelatin stand until it’s soft. About 10 minutes. Using a mixer, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the gelatin mixture and beat the cream until firm peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the lime curd. Make sure it’s all incorporated. Cover again and chill.

To Make the Blackberry Compote:
In a saucepan on the stove, bring the cranberry juice, sugar and water to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and let simmer until it’s reduced considerably, to about 1/2 cup. This should take about 20-25 minutes. Let it cool. Add the berries and gently coat. Using a potato masher or the back of a spoon, gently smash some of the berries while keeping others intact.

Add the berries to the baked pie shell and then add the lime curd. Allow to chill for an hour.

To Make the Meringue:
If you are toasting the meringue in the oven, preheat to 450º.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside.

Meanwhile, stir sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and boil until thermometer reads 238º. Do not stir, you can gently swirl the pan to move it around. But minimal movement is good. Remove the pan from heat.

Turn the mixer back on to medium. Gently and slowly pour the sugar mixture down the side of the bowl into the whites. Beat the meringue at a high speed until it’s firm and glossy. Continue beating until cool.

Remove the pie from the fridge and spoon the meringue over the lime curd leaving a bit of a border between the meringue and the crust, so you can see the lime filling. Tuck the extra berries around the meringue. Bake the pie until the meringue is toasted in spots. Watch this extremely close or pie will burn. It should only take 3-5 minutes. I like to use a kitchen torch  instead of the oven if you have one.

Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

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