Honeyberry Meringue Pie

Sense the beginning of our relationship my boyfriend has been asking me to bake him a lemon meringue pie. I have always been very hesitant and haven't attempted it yet; but this week after I made him a honey berry pie he asked me to try and make him a Honey berry Meringue Pie. How could I resist?

There is nothing like it on the internet, in fact I am not sure if I have even heard of another type of fruit being used for a meringue pie. Four attempts later here I am extremely happy with my results.

While flipping through blogs I came across the Not So Humble Pie blog. I took to adaptations of her lemon meringue pie found here to create this new wonder.

Honey berry Meringue Pie Ingredients

Crust

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup +1 tbsp Earth Balance Butter
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp cold water

Filling

1 cup sugar
8 tbsp arrowroot flour
1 1/2 cups honey berry juice
Juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups hot water

Meringue

4 room temperature egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp arrowroot flour

Directions

Crust

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and sugar, stir well. add butter and mix with hands until crumbly. add water and stir until you cannot anymore then kneed until combined well. divide into two balls and place in freezer for 5 minutes. Bring out one ball and roll out to place into pie plate. Remove other ball and roll out into another pie plate, or freeze for later. This second piece is often used for toppings. Place in oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Filling

In a heavy bottom pot stir together sugar and arrowroot powder. Be sure to mix this well so the arrowroot doesn't clump when liquid is added. Add in honeyberry juice, lemon juice, and zest (I placed my honey berries, and a whole lemon into my juicer to make the juice. worked well.) whisk until sugar and arrowroot powder are combined with no chunks left. Add in hot water and continue to whisk. Turn on stove top to medium. With a wooden spoon, stirring frequently, allow the mixture to come to a boil. You will notice the bottom of the pot will start forming a gel making the mixture look clumpy. This is normal, continue to cook until the entire mixture is a thick gel. Pour into cooked pie crust, place in fridge for 2 hours.

Meringue

I highly recommend you head on over to Not So Humble Pie here to read her lengthy and useful blurb on meringue. It helped me get the perfect meringue the first try. (maybe Lee with get his lemon meringue soon after all)

Once the pie has been in the fridge for two hours, turn on oven to 400 Place water and arrowroot in pot, mix well. turn on burner to medium and stir often until thickened. Set aside.

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in glass bowl. mix with mixer until well combined. Add in sugar a little bit at a time making sure it is well combined before adding in more. Once all sugar is combined continue to mix until the meringue forms stiff peaks. Add in arrowroot mixture and mix well, this takes a little longer than when using cornstarch. Place blobs of meringue onto the pie and spread so the filling is completely covered by meringue. tease the top by dipping spatula into it and pulling it up to form peaks. Place in oven for 10 minutes until golden blown tips form.

Remove, let cool, enjoy. The omnivores definitely approved this pie, and there will be a vegan friendly honey berry pie recipe coming to the blog soon.

Terra