Nectarines with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry

I am not sure that many people start out writing about salad and end up writing about dessert, but that’s exactly what has happened to me.

I was so inspired by Marie's Nectarine and Fresh Basil Salad last week, I decided to do a version of same and take to a dinner party which I knew was leaning towards the fried chicken, devilled egg arena. And there is nothing wrong with that arena at all…I just didn’t want to do the normal potato salad or coleslaw and these eaters were sophisticated enough to get what I was doing with the Nectarine Salad.

I decided to use fresh thyme instead of basil . I didn’t have decent sherry vinegar so I substituted Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry. A little extra virgin olive oil, a little vanilla sugar, a squeeze of fresh lime, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste…this was spectacular.

Of course I didn’t take a picture.

C'est la vie.

It was a hit. The Harvey’s brought out the sweetness of the nectarines, the lime balanced that out.

It was just superb.
.
I woke up the next morning thinking about the leftovers.

I couldn’t wait to have them for breakfast. But then I started thinking about ice cream.

At six in the morning.

Nectarine ice cream.

With thyme in it.

And a bit more Harvey’s.

It really doesn‘t matter what time you make ice cream, does it?

The left over nectarine salad was smushed with vanilla sugar and another splash of Harvey’s and a splash of vanilla extract, thrown into the ice cream maker.

I took a picture this time.


Nectarines with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry

This is your eyeball recipe.

As many nectarines for as many people as you are serving, sliced
A good splash of Harvey’s Bristol Cream
A good pinch of vanilla sugar
A good swirl of extra virgin olive oil
A big pinch of fresh thyme leaves, crushed
A good squeeze of fresh lime juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine and serve as a salad course or as an accompaniment to grilled pork chops.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Nectarine Ice Cream with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry


2 cups vanilla soy milk, or half and half, or 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup half and half
¼ cup vanilla sugar
a squeeze of fresh lime juice
4 nectarines, sliced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Good splash Harvey’s Bristol cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Smush the nectarines with the sugar, add the thyme, sherry, lime juice, vanilla extract. Stir in the vanilla soy milk and pour mixture into electric ice cream maker. Freeze according to directions on your machine.
When done, remove to a plastic container with airtight lid and freeze.


If you have made the above salad, mash the leftovers with the ¼ cup vanilla sugar and thyme and add the sherry. Continue with the above directions.

Serves 4.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Nectarines with Fresh Thyme and Cream Sherry

Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches

Every now and then a recipe jumps out of the pages of a magazine and demands to be made.
That was exactly what this Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches did to me in late June when Gourmet’s July issue arrived.

I dreamed about this recipe.

Cream, honey, Greek yogurt with sugared peaches and lemon thyme.
Bliss. Swoon.

I thought about it for weeks. I kept talking about making it.
The opportunity never presented itself.
Until one of Groom’s dear friends came for a visit and dinner was planned.
Around dessert.

I know, I know there have been Panna Cottas all over the place this summer. We had a dreamy version in Apalachicola last spring at Avenue Sea.
This one, though.
It’s something special.
And with the last of this summer’s peaches, it’s perfection.
I should have made it sooner.


Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine July 2008

1-1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin from packet
2 tbsp water
1-1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup wild honey
1/8 tsp almond extract

1-1/2 tsp chopped fresh lemon thyme
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
3 peaches, washed and sliced thin

Put water in medium saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand a minute to soften.
Add the heavy cream and salt and heat, stirring, until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat.

Whisk together yogurt, honey and almond extract. Then whisk in the gelatin mix. Put in four small bowls, glasses…your choice and refrigerate. (Recipe says 8 hours, mine were ready in 4.)

About 20 minutes before serving, take the panna cotta out of the fridge. combine peaches, lemon thyme and sugar and let sit until ready to serve. Spoon over top of panna cotta and get ready to swoon.

Makes 4.

Panna Cotta with Lemon Thyme Peaches

Cantaloupe Sorbet

I love cantaloupe. It’s got such a cool, sexy flavor if you think about it. It works with sweet and salty.

Growing up, cantaloupe was always for breakfast. Always ice cold with salt and pepper on it.

Not any more.

In an effort to maximize the cantaloupe in our lives, I decided it would be the perfect thing after this wonderful spicy dinner Groom was making for a summer supper for friends.

Thanks to a wonderful blog, Vanilla Basil, and a little help from the our big daddy ice cream maker comes a divine Cantaloupe Sorbet. A little Pernod, a little lime makes this an easy, knockout summer dessert.

Cantaloupe Sorbet
Adapted from Vanilla Basil and Cuisinart recipes

2-½ -3 lbs (1 extra large) cantaloupe, seeded and cubed
1 lime, juiced
4-3 inch wide zests of lime
1 cup freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice
¾ cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup water
Pinch of coarse salt
3 tbsp Pernod

Puree the cantaloupe in a food processor.

Take a 1-½ quart saucepan and put sugar, lime juice, lime zest, Pernod, pinch of salt, orange juice, water over medium high heat and add about 1 cup and a half of pureed cantaloupe. Chill the remaining cantaloupe.

Bring syrup ingredients to boil, then immediately reduce the heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves..

Remove from heat and let cool to room temp. (of course I was in a hurry, so I put it in a bowl and then that bowl in a larger bowl of ice and stirred until it was cool.)

Add the syrup to the cantaloupe, cover and chill for two hours. Remove lime zest before freezing.

Put in freezer bowl of ice cream maker and follow directions, letting this stir and chill for about 30-40 minutes. It will be like an Italian ice, according to Cuisinart, meaning slushy, or you could freeze it til you are ready to eat! If you like, a little Pernod on the side is wonderful!

Makes a ton..

Cantaloupe Sorbet

Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Groom bought me a present when we got back from vacation.

A faboo Cuisinart ice cream maker. I had plans for this baby.
Big plans.

Then, reality.
Eating right, all things in moderation.

That meant no facey downey in ice cream.

Howsomuchever, no one said one word about a dairy free sorbet.

Dark chocolate is good for you.

It can be a reward.

It can be a part of your life.

It can be your friend.

In moderation.

Welcome to the Dark Chocolate Moderation Plan a la Feeding Groom.

If one wants a treat, have a little bit of dark chocolate.
If one wants a splurge, have a spoonful of this stuff.

Straight from the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet that came with the ice cream maker.
Along with nutritional information.

Moderation is not a bad thing at all.

Dark Chocolate Sorbet
Adapted from Cuisinart Recipe Booklet: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Sherbets and More!

Nutrition Information per ½ cup serving:
Calories 139 (9% from fat) .. Carbs 35g .. Protein 2g .. Fat2g ..SatFat..1g .. Cholesterol 0mg ..Sodium 6mg ..Calcium19mg ..Fiber4g (provided by Cuisinart )

4 cups water
1-2/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup dark Muscavado brown sugar
2 cups unsweetened Ghirardelli cocoa powder
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Combine water and sugars in 3-¾ non reactive (stainless, ceramic or glass) saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and transfer to medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and chill in refrigerator 2 hours.

Stir chilled mixture. Add to freezer bowl of ice cream maker and follow the instructions. With the Cuisinart model, let mix til thickened, about 30 minutes.

The sorbet has a soft creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer sorbet to airtight container and place in freezer for 2 hours or more. Best done day ahead.

Makes 14 ½ cup servings.

Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Nashville One Pan Fudge Cake

This recipe comes from the original Junior League of Nashville cookbook called Nashville Seasons.
Originally published in 1964, this is a treasure trove of special Southern recipes.

One Pan Fudge Cake is one of them. Dark, chocolaty, nutty and sweet. Something you should make and keep on the counter top in the kitchen, just in case you need something sweet.

Don’t mess with the ingredients.

Don’t get all chocolate snob on me here.

It says one and one half squares Bakers unsweetened chocolate for a reason.

If you use anything else, you won’t have a One Pan Fudge Cake.

Nashville One Pan Fudge Cake

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1-½ squares Baker’s unsweetened chocolate
1 pinch salt
¾ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts, your choice

Preheat oven to 325.

Melt butter, sugar and chocolate together. Sift flour and baking powder into the melted chocolate mixture. Add eggs vanilla, nuts and salt. Blend and pour into well greased 8x8 baking pan.

Bake for 35 minutes exactly. Cut into squares while hot. Don’t remove from pan until cooled.

Makes 12 pieces.

Nashville One Pan Fudge Cake

Mary Herbert's Three Layer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

We are still in the celebratory mode here at the beach.

All Groom wanted for his birthday was one of Mary Herbert’s chocolate cakes.

And this one is a winner.

Easy to bake in a kitchen Herbs has never seen before and the end result is one of those cakes we’ll talk about in the years to come.

It’s the kind of cake that gets better with time and smaller with time, because someone’s mother keeps going past it and straightening up the sides. It’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning snack, midnight snack, come up from the beach because you think no one else will be up in the kitchen eating the cake but they are kind of snack. Or just dessert.

Be prepared. This is a very thin batter but rises to heights unachieved by many cakes. It’s moist, deep chocolate flavor gets better as it ages. It truly is best made a day before you serve it.
If it lasts that long!

Mary Herbert’s Three Layer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Cake:

2-½ cups all purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1-1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-¼ tsp baking powder
2-¼ tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1-½ cups whole milk
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp real vanilla extract
1-½ cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease three 9-inch round cake pans. Cut three pieces parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pans, place in pans and spray with vegetable spray, like Pam.

Combine flour, sugar, soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Blend well with electric mixer on low speed. While on low, add eggs one at a time until mixed well. Slowly add milk, oil, vanilla and put mixer on medium and blend well. Put speed on low and add boiling water in slow stream.

When combined, pour into the prepared cake pans and bake 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Cool then remove from the pan. You can wrap these individually in saran wrap and freeze for later use.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

8 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tsp real vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt

Place butter and the cocoa powder in large bowl. Blend on low with electric mixer til soft and well combined. That takes about 30 seconds. Stop mixer. Put the confectioner's sugar, milk, vanilla, salt in bowl and beat with mixer on low speed til the frosting lightens and is fluffy. Add more milk if it’s too thick and more confectioner’s sugar if too thin.

Makes enough to frost a 3 layer cake.

The cake will serve 16. Or one person, who shall remain nameless, 6 times, and 10 others.

Thanks to Mark for the "rc" decor on top of the cake!

Mary Herbert's Three Layer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Seriously Chocolate Cupcakes

There are times that call for serious chocolate.

Birthdays, engagements, funerals, Mondays, 4:00 in the afternoon.
The need for serious chocolate must be addressed.

How to address it?

Well, you could go to the grocery store and get some dark chocolate M&Ms and eat them immediately in the car on the way home from the store, that might solve your problem.

You could buy something decadent in the freezer section..gelato or some Ben and Jerry’s.

Or you could make these cupcakes.

I’ll take door number three, Monty.

I was looking for something to do for my mother’s birthday. Cupcakes are all the rage right now and I thought that would be a good thing to do for dessert.

Easy, can be done ahead and seriously chocolate.

I found it.

Flourless. Excellent. More room for chocolate.

This makes a boatload of cupcakes. I made 12 in the muffin tin and poured the rest in a heart shaped silicone pan and made one big heart shaped “cupcake” for the birthday girl.

Who loves you, Nanny!!!!

Seriously Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from a Michael Chiarello recipe for Molten Chocolate Cupcakes


8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
One good grind of black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon gray salt


Preheat the oven to 300.

Line the cupcake pan with paper liners and spray the liners with vegetable spray. Break up the chocolate and put it into a bowl.

Combine the butter and cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When the cream mixture comes to a simmer, pour it over the chocolate and stir gently to melt the chocolate.In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, mayonnaise, cornstarch, cinnamon, black pepper and salt just until the sugar has dissolved.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and gently mix just until combined. (Mixing too much will prevent the eggs from rising in the oven.) Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter into each mold, it should come about 3/4 of the way up the sides.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 12 cupcakes and 1- 8 inch heart shaped cake or probably 24 cupcakes.

Seriously Chocolate Cupcakes

Pots de Creme au Chocolat

Simple. Easy. Deadly. Divine.

All in one dessert.

Make this one when you want to impress, shock, and/or seduce.

Candlelight required.

Enough said.

Pots de Crème au Chocolat

1- 4 ounce bar bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
3 egg yolks
Splash Grand Marnier

Put chocolate and cream in small heavy saucepan. Heat, stirring, until chocolate melts and starts to boil.

Reduce heat to simmer, and cook, stirring for three minutes exactly. Remove from heat.

Put egg yolks in bowl.

Take small whisk and dip into chocolate then whisk the eggs. Do this several times to warm the egg yolks. Then add chocolate cream mixture in thin stream, beating eggs the entire time. Splash a bit of Grand Marnier into the chocolate and stir.

Pour into four 3-ounce pot de crème pots, or espresso cups. Let cool. Then you can put the tops on the pots, or cover with plastic wrap.

Chill til you’re ready to impress, shock and/or seduce.

Makes 4 servings.

Pots de Creme au Chocolat

Charlotte Russe

One recipe that has been in the family for years is an eggnog. We always have it at Christmas, doing our celebrating on Christmas Eve, so that you have Christmas Day to get over the eggnog. The flavors of the eggnog: rum, bourbon, brandy are immediately identifiable when you taste it.

For our Easter lunch, which we celebrated yesterday, Mother decided to do a Charlotte Russe. Ladyfingers lining an old silver bowl layered with a wonderful moussey mix of eggs, vanilla, and hello, this tastes like eggnog!

Eggnog? NANNY? Have I slept through a year?

Oh, no, dear. It’s a recipe from Jack Izard’s A Traveler's Table. Isn’t it divine?

Jack is an old friend of my parents who wrote a great cookbook several years ago showcasing recipes he has collected from around the world. And the photography in the book, which he did, is fabulous.

But back to Charlotte.

In the past, when Charlotte Russe showed up at a dinner party, she bore unmistakable notes of a nutty sherry.

Not this year.

Charlotte was not as ladylike as she has been in the past. She blew in after a big lunch of sautéed quail and wild rice, like the north wind. She tasted like Christmas on a cool March day. Champagne bubbling in the glasses around her, she was a bit easier to take than the usual eggnog, but was so divine.

I’m sure she’ll be asked back again.

Charlotte Russe

Adapted from Jack Izard's A Travelers Table

4 eggs, separated

6 heaping tbsp sugar

3 ounces bourbon

1-1/2 ounces dark rum

1-1/2 ounces brandy

dash of vanilla

1 quart heavy cream

2 envelopes plain gelatin (1/4 ounce each)

1/2 cup hot water

2-3 ounce packages ladyfingers

In three separate bowls:

Small bowl: beat egg yolks, stir in sugar til blended, add the liquors, salt and vanilla.

Medium bowl: whip cream until stiff.

Large bowl: Beat egg whites til stiff.

Dissolve gelatin in 1/3 cup hot water and add to egg yolk mixture. Line serving bowl with ladyfingers, split in half lengthwise, reserving 8 halves for the top.

Gently fold contents of the three bowls together and the egg whites last. Pour mixture into lined bowls and top with ladyfinger halves.

Cool in refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Keeps well for several days.

Serves 8.

Charlotte Russe

Black Pepper Cookies

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the worm has turned. The curse upon my baking skills, I am happy to report, has been lifted. I can uncross the rolling pins, remove the garlic from the front door. I’m back and I’m baking with success again. I made pizza crust last weekend and it worked. I made Caramel Fudge Cake. It worked. I made Pan de Jerez and it worked.

I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

I put off this celebratory post for several days just to be sure I had my chops back. And they’re here.

So , this week’s baking post is about cookies. Not just any old cookie. A Black Pepper Cookie. I’m very picky about my black peppercorns. I do a mix of three types: the Indian Tellicherry black, the robust Sarawak black and the Malabar Indian black peppercorns. The strength of the pepper flavor depends on how long the pepper is left on the vine and these are three peppercorns that stay the longest, therefore make a spicy addition to any food.

These cookies have freshly ground pepper from my mix, freshly grated ginger, cloves, cinnamon and for a little lasting surprise for the taste buds…a pinch of cayenne.

These are wonderful with a bit of St Andre cheese to completely knock your socks off!

Black Pepper Cookies
Adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts

3 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp double acting baking powder
½ pound (1 cup) softened butter
¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
½ tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1-½ cup sugar
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400.

Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside. In large bowl of electric mixer, cream butter. Beat in the black pepper, cayenne pepper, cloves, cinnamon and fresh ginger. Scrape the bowl with spatula as necessary to keep mixture smooth while beating in the sugar, egg and on lowest speed, the sifted dry ingredients. When completely blended, remove from mix to a board or smooth surface. Knead lightly. Divide dough into three pieces. Work with one piece at a time. Do not chill the dough before rolling.

On a piece of parchment paper or silpat, roll out cookies to a ¼ inch thickness. Cut out with 2-½ inch round cutter. Transfer with a metal spatula to unbuttered cookie sheet, and place about 3/4inches apart.

Bake 8 minutes til lightly browned. Remove from pan with spatula and put on rack to cool. If you cook more than one sheet at a time, cook a bit longer.

Makes two dozen cookies, or more if you use a smaller cookie cutter.

Black Pepper Cookies

Caramel Fudge Cake

When I was growing up, sweets were around the house, but I didn’t want to know where.

Why, you ask?

Because then there wouldn’t be any sweets around the house, they would be inside of me. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t eat them, but there was most definitely a problem with self control.

I have none.

There were a few things that my mother baked that made self control pack its little bag and catch the first cab out of my brain. Chief among these irresistibles was Caramel Fudge Cake. This is the stuff that sweet dreams are made of. One bite and you’re transported to a happy place waving bye bye to self control and hello to all out gluttony.

So in the interest of helping you, dear reader, know more about me, I humbly offer the recipe for these toothsome morsels, a phrase I have always wanted to use in a sentence. A bite of pure happiness, chocked full of walnuts, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.

Caramel Fudge Cake

2 sticks butter
2 cups chopped walnuts
4 cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs, separated (whites beaten till stiff)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325.

Melt the butter and add the sugar and mix well. Beat the egg yolks, add a little of the butter sugar mix to warm them and then gradually beat in all the sugar butter mix. Sift flour and baking powder and add to egg and sugar mix. Add nuts, vanilla and beaten egg whites. Mix until well blended together. This is something you do by hand. Do not use a mixer.

Butter 2 glass 8x8 pans and divide batter between the two.
Bake for 45 minutes and cool in the pan. Cut in squares and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar or a little French grey sea salt, as shown in the picture above. So good.

Should make 18 unless you eat some of the dough.

Caramel Fudge Cake

Pan de Jerez: A Chocolate Sherry Torte

It had been coming on for a long time. Lurking in the darkness. Slinking along at a slow pace inside closed books. A desire. No, that’s not what it was. It was a need. I needed dark chocolate in a serious manner.

I studied my cookbooks, looking for that perfect recipe to fulfill this need. Venturing into an area I hadn’t explored. The baking area.

It needed to be bittersweet. It needed an intensity. And it needed to be easy.

Enter The Mediterranean Kitchen. Joyce would have the answer.

She did.

Pan de Jerez is also known as a Chocolate Sherry Torte. When you have bittersweet chocolate melting with sweet cream butter and a dry amontillado sherry..your kitchen smells so good. A splash of Amaretto (you know how almonds and sherry and chocolate have loved each other forever) and happiness abounds in the kitchen.

This is better the second day, if it lasts that long.

Pan de Jerez : A Chocolate Sherry Torte
Adapted from The Mediterranean Kitchen by Joyce Goldstein

6-½ ounces bittersweet chocolate
11 tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup dry amontillado sherry
2 tbsp amaretto liquor
5 large eggs, separated
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1/3 cup sifted cake flour

Put chocolates, butter, sherry and amaretto in the top of a double boiler. Heat over simmering water stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9x5x3 loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Beat the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until it forms a slowly dissolving ribbon on the batter when the beater is lifted. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually beat in the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Continue to beat to medium soft peaks. Stir the cooled chocolate mixture, the vanilla, and salt into the egg yolks. Sift the flour over the batter and add the egg whites and fold just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Butter another piece of parchment paper on both sides and place on top of the batter.

Wrap tightly in foil and place in a larger banking pan. Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to come 3 inches up the side of the loaf pan. Cover all tightly with foil. Bake just until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 45-50 minutes. Do not overbake. Remove the loaf pan from the water bath and let the cake cool in the pan. Run a knife around the sides of the pan and turn the cake out onto serving platter. Cut into 1 inch sliced and serve with whipped cream.

Serves 8.

Pan de Jerez: A Chocolate Sherry Torte

Mary Herbert's Lemon Meringue Pie

One of Groom’s favorite things in the world is pie. Any kind of pie. He is lucky to have married me. Not because I make great pies. Far from it. As a matter of fact, I can ruin a pie in no time flat. I’m really not a baker. Ask me to roast or braise or saute something, I’m your gal. Pie. Nope. Can’t do it.
However, I have a dear friend who is the queen of desserts. Her pound cake is legendary. Her chocolate desserts are the stuff dreams are made of. And her lemon meringue pie absolutely rocks. Her busband asked her to make it for our dinner last night…he loves it dearly. When Herbie heard that Groom loves pie, the dessert part of the meal was set.
The meringue was perfect..light..sweet and just a golden touch of color on the swirls.
The filling was all about lemon. Tart and sweet at the same time.
Groom smiled. And ate more pie.

Mary Herbert’s Lemon Meringue Pie
1 ½ c. sugar
1/3 c. cornstarch
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ c. cold water
½ c. lemon juice (about the juice of two lemons)
5 eggs, separated
2 T. butter
2-3 tsp. grated lemon rind
one baked 9-inch pastry shell (I used the Pillsbury already-made shell)
¼ t. cream of tartar
½ c. plus 2 T. sugar
½ t. vanilla
Combine 1 ½ c. sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy saucepan; mix together. Gradually add water and lemon juice, stirring. Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored; gradually stir into lemon mixture. Add butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Cook exactly one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in lemon rind. Pour into pastry shell. Combine egg whites (which have been at room temp.) with cream of tartar; beat until foamy. Gradually add ½ c plus 2 T. sugar, one tablespoonful at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Spread meringue over filling, sealing to edge of pastry. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool to room temp.

Mary Herbert's Lemon Meringue Pie