One of the best parts of winter is the abundant supply of flavorful, fresh citrus. I had a few Meyer lemons from my CSA lying around, as well as an abundant supply of eggs, so I made a lemon meringue pie! This was my first attempt. I used this recipe by Alton Brown from www.foodnetwork.com for the filling and topping, and the recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill Rice flour package for the pie crust. Overall, it turned out pretty well. Here are my notes:

1. The pie crust recipe needed a little more liquid than the recipe called for. My mother taught me to always use ice water in pie crust. I had read somewhere that vodka or vinegar are good to use in pie crusts (something to do with the acid I think), so I poured about a tablespoon of vodka over three ice cubes, swirled it until it was ice-cold, and added it to the mixture. More like bartending than baking! If you keep your vodka in the freezer this step would be even easier.

2. This pie crust is really crumbly. If you can afford it, I would say use a gluten-free pastry flour blend. The rice flour is a little cheaper though, so I circumvent the rolling-out difficulties by not doing it at all. I grab handfuls of the crumbly dough mixture, squeeze it in my fist, and then press it into my pie dish in sections with my fingertips. No one can see the weird crater-like texture once the filling is in it!

3. One of my favorite cooking secrets is to use room-temperature egg whites to make meringues. This will give you those coveted stiff, shiny peaks every time! It was even easier to do with this recipe because the filling is made with egg yolks. When I separated the eggs, I put the whites in a liquid measuring cup, and put that on my stove-top while my pie crust was baking to bring them to room temperature a little faster.

And there you have it. Happy eating!