Recipe #4: My Mother's Lemon Meringue Pie

We all have those food memories- foods that we remember getting to eat as a kid, special treats that someone in our family made only on certain occasions, special holidays. Foods that we would daydream about, drool over as the ingredients were placed in the grocery cart at the grocery store, relish the smell of in the house, and, of course, devour every smidgen on your plate before anyone else had even picked up a fork. I'm certain plate-licking is often involved with these foods.

One of my many food memories is my mother's lemon meringue pie. Generally, I always associate this pie with my brother and his birthday because he would request it yearly in place of a cake. I prefer it to most others because of the crust made from Ritz crackers. You'll need one round pie pan.

Ingredients:

Crust: 2 tubes of regular Ritz crackers (don't get the no salt ones- trust me :)

Custard: 1 can of condensed milk
              1/2 cup lemon juice
              2 egg yolks

Meringue: 3 egg whites
               1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
               1 tsp vanilla
               a slightly heaping 1/4 cup sugar

Crush one tube of crackers and pour it into the bottom of the pie pan. Open the other tube and place crackers along the outside of the pan all the way around. It is likely that they will not touch each other.
Mix custard ingredients and pour it into the pie pan. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla on medium to medium-high until they form soft peaks. Continue beating and slowly add sugar. Once all sugar has been added, beat on high until firm peaks form in the meringue. Gently pour onto custard and lightly smooth/swirl the top. Bake at 325 until the meringue is lightly brown.