Friday is PIE DAY!

When my hubby ate the first piece of this pie he said, "It's really, really sweet, but I still managed to make it through the whole piece."  Sweet indeed.  If you have a real sweet tooth, especially for caramel-y goodies, this is the pie for you.  It has a beautiful, luscious, pudding-like caramel filling topped with a heaping dose of meringue.  mmm....mmmm....  I got this recipe many many years ago out of an old church cookbook.

Sweet Tooth Caramel Meringue Pie 

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell
2 c sugar
1/2 c water
2 T flour
2 c milk
5 eggs yolks
4 T butter
1 t vanilla

for meringue

5 egg whites
1/2 c sugar
1 t cornstarch
1/2 t cream of tartar


-caramelize 1/2 c of the sugar in a heavy saucepan. 

-cook 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and turns the color of maple syrup

-slowly add the water (and i mean slowly, or it will bubble up and spat onto your hands-ouch!)

-let the mixture reach a bubbling state and make sure everything is blended and liquid

beautiful!

-in a double boiler, combine the remaining sugar with the flour and milk

-cook on high boil, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes thick

-reduce heat, add in egg yolks (*temper first!) and cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly

-remove from heat, add butter, vanilla and caramel syrup

-pour into prepared pie shell

-bake at 325 for 20 minutes

-remove from oven and spread meringue on top

-return pie to oven and bake 20 minutes more, until meringue is browned

*what do I mean by "temper"? 

When you add egg yolks to a hot mixture, you should first add a small spoonful of the hot mixture to the egg yolks.  This will warm the yolks slightly, and keep you from ending up with scrambled eggs in your pie filling.