It seems to be my luck that I cannot, for the life of me, make a custard pie. I have tried two different methods and it always turns to soup.
Upon the last time of making a custard pie, lemon meringue, I boiled the custard on the stove top as directed, then baked the pie and let it completely cool to set. Set, it did not. I thought maybe chilling it in the fridge over night would make it set. I went to bed confident it would be set in the morning.
When I learned my aunt and uncle were dropping by unexpectedly from Wisconsin I was excited to see them. I told my uncle about my pie and his eyes lit up. Lemon meringue is his favorite! I trotted out to fridge, only to find lemon vichyssoise with floating meringue.
In a slight panic, because I wanted so badly for him to enjoy my pie, I needed to find a way to make this custard set, and fast. I scooped the meringue off the top with a spatula, like a pancake, whipped some heavy cream and sugar together, and poured the filling into the whipped cream. Strike one. It deflated like a popped tire.
I decided to add more cream to the 'whipped' filling and beat the heck of it with my hand-held beater. Strike two. I wasn't getting stiff peaks.
Getting frustrated, I remembered that I had used a pinch of cream of tartar in the egg whites to make them fool-proof stiff. I dashed to my cupboard and gradually added about two teaspoon to the mix, until it was stiff enough and viola, home run!
The pie still had a wonderful lemon flavor even after I mixed in about a cup of heavy cream.
Lesson learned. If you also struggle with custard pies, try this if you're in a pinch.
Another idea is to serve the filling as a 'pudding' and pile lots of whipped cream on top. Delicious!
No comments:
Post a Comment