Lemon Meringue Cup-Pie

Tia(?) at Living Deliberately has been on a creative streak with cupcakes lately. The cupcakes, especially the lemon-raspberry, started a serious craving for me. Problem is, not everyone in my family is big on the cake part of the cupcake. What to do?

Try Google!

Lemon Meringue Tarts. Recipe was from The Canadian Baker. Instructions for making mini pie crusts using an upside down muffin tin were dug up with another google search. I enlisted the help from the other cake lover by telling her we'd be making cup-pies, just like Chuck on Pushing Daisies. Handed over the official 'hands on' smock, tied on an apron, and got to work.

The mini pie crusts were easier than I thought they'd be. Directions called for turning a 2nd tin over the first to make for easy flipping and less burning, but I only have one 12-muffin tin. So, DD and I fashioned little aluminum foil cups to reduce the chance of burning. When we pulled them out of the oven, we topped the tin with a cookie sheet & flipped. Worked like a charm.

While cooling, we mixed up the lemon filling. DD spooned it into the mini crusts with a tablespoon, and watched the magic of making meringue while the filling cooled. The small casserole dish was used for the extra pie crust & filling. There wasn't enough for a whole pie, so we rolled out the dough and went through the cabinets to find a pan to match.

Quick 15 minute bake, and... behold!

Oh. Wait. DD couldn't wait long enough for me to grab the camera, so our finished product photo is lacking it's meringue. (According to DD, the meringue is just like toasted marshmallows, which are only her favorite thing in the whole world.)

That's okay. The cup-pies were a success.

I now have requests for a chocolate silk version, so I guess it's back to Google to plan an upcoming weekend project.