TWD: Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie

Hi folks, for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, Linda of Tender Crumb decided on Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie.

I'm afraid this post is going to be brief. Today brought the first day of school, and with it, a wake-up time about 3 hours earlier than my normal, lazy summer wake-up. I am tie-ard!

But let me recap the pie, before I head upstairs and pass out.


I used home-made vanilla sugar for both the filling and the meringue. What's vanilla sugar, you ask? Simple, you take a vanilla bean (in my case a past it's prime turning-hard bean), split it in two (or three or four) to expose the inside and mix with some sugar. Stir occasionally. You can replenish the sugar and/or vanilla beans as needed. Note that you'll need to strain your sugar before using to remove any vanilla bean pieces.


My filling and meringue were flecked with vanilla bean seeds. I'm not sure if you can see them but they're there. That's the vanilla sugar!


(Have you ever tried to take a picture of yourself piping meringue? It's not easy, I discovered.)


I've always wanted to do spikey meringue like that. I first saw it in one of Sherry Yard's cookbooks (I think hers was even taller).

My oven is still conked out, but I was able to use the toaster oven... although it's a bit of an adventure to use since the temperature knob is broken off and it only heats up to 400-plus degrees now.


Anyway, I really liked this tart. It was, in fact, quite tart but not overwhelmingly so. I made a half batch and only used one lime's worth of zest. I didn't have any fresh ginger, so I used ground... 1/4 tsp for a half batch. If I were to make this the same way again, I might cut back on the ginger just a smidge so it plays more of a back-up role. As for the butter in the filling, I just used a little (maybe a tablespoon) because this recipe is similar to The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart we made long ago, and I didn't care for all of the butter in that filling. I like butter and I like lemon meringue pie, but not together.

Oh, and I forgot to add that I used Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough with nuts, and used ground pistachios. I think this is going to be my new go-to tart crust. I just love it.

Oh, and I also forgot to add that I only used egg yolks, since I just happened to have the right amount from another recipe I made. That's why my filling is more yellow-ish colored.

OK, somehow this post didn't end up as short and sweet as I'd planned (but probably more poorly written and disjointed), but now it's time to sign off. (Oh, sweet, soft bed, I'm headed your way...)

Until next week!