Can I cut the amount of lemon juice in Rose’s Lemon Meringue Pie to just 1/3 or 1/4 cup as my family thinks 1/2 cup of lemon juice is too tart? Also, my prebaked pie crust sticks to the bottom of my glass pie plates. All suggestions welcome.

MARIEL:
  Good morning. I believe the reason the base of the pie dough sticks to the bottom of your glass pie plate is the dough is short of sufficient fat. Why don’t you first try spritzing some of that “PAM” junk into the pie plate & see if that will provide help. If not modify the recipe by adding more fat like crisco, butter, or cream cheese or even veg. oil into the pastry.

  Mariel, as far as the reducing the acidity taste of the lemon concoction goes you can consider replacing the 1.5 oz of lemon juice with additional water…or if you do not mind just reducing the lemon & the level of the pie will be short in height by approx 1/8th of an inch.. Consider reducing a little of the cornstarch when doing this option. Or try adding additional sweetner either sugar or honey. That may work out for you.

Good luck to you Mariel I am sure you will succeed in whatever you decide to do. Enjoy the rest of the day.

  ~FRESHKID.

Mariel, as freshkid mentions, if you reduce the lemon juice you will have to reduce the cornstarch, as a more acidic mixture requires more conrstarch than a less acidic one to acheve the same thickening.  You can see an example of this in the fruit glaze section, p.611-2 of the PPB.  Sorry, not sure the exact amount to reduce the cornstarch, you’ll have to experiment.

Good Luck!

I always grease my pie plates with vegetable shortening (Crisco brand) and I never have a problem with sticking. Good luck!

‘Pie in the Sky’ moderates the sourness of a light lemon filling by using part freshly squeezed orange juice. It still tastes like straight lemon, just a little gentler and richer.

Cathy

cdurso - 03 February 2009 11:09 AM

‘Pie in the Sky’ moderates the sourness of a light lemon filling by using part freshly squeezed orange juice. It still tastes like straight lemon, just a little gentler and richer.

Cathy

Great tip - sometimes straight lemon juice is a bit too strong for my palate.  I’ll have to give this a try.  Thanks!

Patrincia,  Orange juice sounds like a great idea.  I’m making a pie tomorrow and I will use this tip along with incorporating a few other great hints I received from some thoughtful others.  What a great web site this turned out to be.  Thanks everyone!!!