Let's just get this out there: I adore meringue pies. They're sweet, gooey, fluffy, and delicious.

They're also a right pain in the ass.

My partner's favorite pie - possibly favorite dessert - is lemon meringue pie (or key lime meringue pie, whichever strikes his fancy at the time). I'd never had lemon meringue pie before we got together, and was decidedly underwhelmed by the experience when I finally got to try one. I mean, it wasn't bad, just it wasn't as good as, say, butterscotch meringue pie. There was a weird underflavor to the lemon filling, kind of bitter and chemical-y, and where the pie's texture really wasn't any different from butterscotch meringue pie, the filling always just felt kind of sticky and gluey to me.

And that's not to say that making my own made it any better. Quite the contrary, my own attempts at lemon meringue pie yielded exactly the same thing others' attempts yielded. I drew the conclusion that lemon meringue pie is just gross and proceeded to do my best to learn to cook everything else on the planet ever so as to distract my partner from ever wanting lemon meringue pie again. Which worked great until this year when, for his his 29th birthday, he really, really wanted lemon meringue pie.

Well fine.

I went online to get a recipe (didn't save the one I used last time because the pie wasn't anything to write home about) and stumbled across ... well, frankly, the godsend of lemon meringue pies. Mostly because it was a recipe for key lime pie, but nevermind.

You can find the original here. Don't use it, though. Use mine. Mine's better.

Oh! And be warned - this is not a quick pie. You make the filling, chill it for two hours, then make the meringue and bake the pie, then let it cool for four hours, so you're looking at a 6-hour pie. That's not 6 hours of work, though, so as long as you're cool with doing something else between steps, the pie will give you no troubles. :D



( Undifficult Lemon Meringue Pie )

Title: Getting Bi
Author: Robin Ochs (ed.)
Publication date:
Publisher:
Pages: 232

( Review )

Title: Lies My Teacher Told Me
Author: James W. Loewen
Publication date: 1995
Publisher: Touchstone
Pages: 318

( Review )

Title: Real Boys
Author: William Pollack
Publication date: 1998
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Pages: 400

( Review )

My New Year's Resolution this year (2012) is to read more non-fiction books. Anyone who knows my addiction to fiction will recognize that this is an appropriate resolution, as it may indicate that the end of the world is upon us. Be that as it may, I plan to read at least 12 non-fiction books this year, one a month if I can swing it.

I'll also try to put my thoughts on each book I've read into a post so that anyone who is interested in the titles I read will know what I thought of them and if it sounds like material they would be interested in reading.


( Books I'm currently reading )

( Books I've completed )

( Books I'm thinking about reading )

These were called peanut butter brownies in the original recipe, but when you say "brownies," people generally expect chocolate, and these are not chocolate at all. They're like ... imagine that a Tollhouse Cookiebar and a Reese's Cup had a love affair and managed to birth a child with no chocolate in it. That'd be these, and if you didn't get a nasty-ass mental image from that description, then screw you, that's what.

These are easy and OH MAN so good, and since they're fairly rich, they last quite some time. Like, two days. Tops.

(You can put chocolate icing on them or mix in chocolate chips if you want, but I personally prefer them straight-up peanut butter because mmm.)

( Peanut Butter Bars )

If you get the reference in the name of this recipe, haha you poor thing. If you don't, please don't google it, especially if you're my mother. >>;

I made these bars for dessert one evening after a solid two weeks of baking (and eating) brownies of all sorts, good stuff but heavy stuff. I wanted something lighter and fruitier, and I've always liked lemon bars but never really made them because the box mix is so expensive and only makes like 9 bars.

This recipe, if you followed the original instructions, makes considerably more than 9 bars, but the crust was too thick and the lemon bit too thin. Also, the lemon flavor needed a little something "more" to it, so for the first batch I made, I topped the whole thing with lemon zest after baking, but would definitely put the zest in the lemon mixture next time. I've also cut the crust recipe in half and left the lemon recipe the same. Not sure why the lemon bars in the picture have such a thick layer of lemon and mine did not. Very mysterious.

Enjoy!

( Lemon Party Bars )

I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS RECIPE YET. I'm writing it down how I'm going to try it, though, as I'm combining a little of me with a little of others and a little of the original recipe. Will update once I've made them and determined that they are a keeper.

( Goodness Gracious Meatballs of Fire )

Brownies are so weird, to me. I love them dearly - all gooey and chocolatey and tasty, you don't need a fork or plate to eat them, and they're dead easy to make, just open the box, mix in eggs and oil, and bake - but for some reason, it never occurs to me that I love them, so I never make them. Ever. I think in the six years I've been married, I've made them twice, maybe three times.

My partner loves brownies, but he's a shy and retiring fellow, so he never brings it up.

So last week, we had company coming over for dinner, and I was swamped with working on my thesis and cleaning the apartment and making my excellent minestrone, so I went the lazy route on dessert, bought a box brownie mix, threw it together, and that was dessert.

The brownies were pretty good. Had an undertone of I've-been-in-a-plastic-bag-on-a-shelf-way-too-long, but I'm not sure anyone but me picked up on it.

We only had a 9x9 pan of the things, though, and there were four of us eating them, so the brownies didn't last very long at all. Two nights later, my partner's cooking up some dinner, and I decide that brownies NEEDED to happen. Like right freakin' now.

Went online, found a recipe, tried it out, FELL IN LOVE.

This is my modification to that recipe. Leave out the two optional items (nuts and orange zest) and you get plain old traditional DELICIOUS brownies. Add in one or the other and you get pretty damn tasty brownies. Put both in and you get a unique, amazing treat that will guarantee you never again forget how much you love brownies.

... if you're like me and forget that from time to time, anyway.

( Orange Rind Walnut Brownies )