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Orange Meringue Pie
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. You all have had lemon meringue pie, now it is time to enjoy oranges for this spectacular dessert! These directions for making the filling are for cooking in the microwave as it is easier to keep the mixture nice and smooth but of course you can also cook the filling in a double boiler on the stove, stirring constantly. Either way it is wonderful!
for the crust:
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
few grindings of pepper, if desired
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled
1/4 cup very cold water
for the filling:
1 cup raw sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
6 egg yolks
zest of 1-2 oranges
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
for the meringue:
4 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon orange juice (measure carefully!)
orange zest for garnish at serving time
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In food processor with steel chopping blade in place, whirl the flour, salt and pepper. Add the very cold butter and pulse to "cut" the butter into small pieces. Add the cold water and pulse just to blend it in, do not overmix. Shape dough into a ball with your hands, and using a pastry cloth sprinkled with a bit of flour, roll the dough into a circle. Lift into a 9 inch metal, glass, or ceramic pie pan. Trim and flute the edges, and then with a fork pierce the crust liberally to keep it from rising up due to the steam build-up as it is baking. (or use pie weights) Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake 15 - 20 minutes to brown nicely. Place on a cooling rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
In meantime, you can begin making the filling. In a glass or ceramic batter bowl, whisk the sugar, water, cornstarch and salt to blend well. Cook in microwave 2 minutes. Whisk well. Cook another 1 minute, whisk well, adding another minute if necessary so that it is thick and clear looking. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks until light and fluffy. Gradually add a little of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, whisking well. Add a little more of the hot mixture and whisk well. (tempering, to get the egg yolks warmed but not cooking them) Now you can gradually whisk the warmed egg yolks into the hot mixture, whisking well. Cook 1 minute, whisk well. Cook another 1 minute, whisk well. Whisk in the zest, orange juice and butter. Pour in to the baked pie shell. Set aside while you make the meringue.
In very clean batter bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until the egg whites have formed soft peaks. Very gradually add the sugar and the orange juice, beating constantly until it forms nice high stiff peaks. Gently pile the meringue onto the pie filling, swirling to make nice peaks and making sure the meringue touches the edges of the crust so that it will stay in place while baking. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until nicely browned. Place on cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving. When ready to serve, carefully sprinkle a little orange zest over the meringue.
Recipe created 2013-09-29.
