The baking challenge recipe I completed in August was one that I am proud to say I (kind of) created! The inspiration for it came from a lotion I bought from Trader Joes that smells like strawberry lemon. It smells so good that I want to eat it! I knew I wanted to make a pie for the month and so I got to thinking that I have tried several delicious lemon meringue pies, but never a strawberry lemon meringue pie so I got to researching! The final result is partially my experiment along with a fusion of this recipe for the filling and this recipe for the graham cracker crust.
The first step to making the pie is making the crust. I love a good pastry crust but those take some time so, for this recipe, I went with a graham cracker crust. I placed about 10 sheets of graham cracker into a bag and crushed them with my baking pin. When they were to a mostly uniform sized crumb, I placed them in a bowl with 5 tablespoons of melted butter and a 1/4 of a cup of sugar as the recipe lists. Where I love to deviate from the recipe is to add a little bit more spice to my crust for an unexpected layer of flavor. For this one, I added in probably about a teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch or two of nutmeg. Once all of the ingredients were mixed together thoroughly, I pressed the mixture into my pie pan (really a cake pan…I need to ask for a pie pan for Christmas! lol) as well as into one of my glass ramekins. They baked in the oven for about 10 minutes at 300ºF.
Rolling pin crushing the graham crackers 
The crust ingredients in the bowl 
What the final results looked like
The next step involved making the filling of the pie!
For the lemon filling, I whisked the 3 egg yolks, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup of lemon juice, and tablespoon of lemon zest together until smooth.
Pouring the evaporated milk in to the beaten egg yolks 
Lemon zest and lemon juice were then added 
How it looked all mixed together.
The next step is where I went a little bit off the recipe. I thought just having the strawberries on top wasn’t enough of that flavor, so I spread a layer of strawberry preserves on top of my crusts once they cooled. Then, I poured the lemon filling into the crusts on top of the strawberry preserves. They baked in the oven for 25 minutes at 350ºF.
Strawberry Preserves spread into the crust 
The lemon filling poured on top of the strawberry preserves and ready to bake.
When they came out of the oven, I placed a layer of the strawberries over the baked filling into a pretty design (even though they were about to be covered up. lol). Then I put the egg whites with a 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tarter in a bowl and used my hand mixer to get them to a foamy consistency. Then I slowly poured a 1/4 cup of sugar into the mixture until stiff, but not dry, peaks formed.
I loved how the strawberries looked here. I *almost* didn’t want to add the meringue 
Adding the sugar to the foamy egg whites and cream of tarter 
The meringue being spread over the strawberries.
Using a spatula, I spread the fluffy meringue over the baked pie until it was smoothed to the edges of the crust. The pie returned to the oven for 10 more minutes until the top was a nice, golden brown. As you can see, I think I baked them maybe a minute too long cause the color is a little dark. I also think if I make this pie again, I would make the nice ridges in the meringue of the full sized pie like I did with my mini ramekin pie because it looks so much better.
The meringue spread over the pie. 
My mini ramekin pie 
A little dark and lacks the nice brown ridges, but still a pretty pie 
How I wished my full sized pie looks cause it just looks so much more like an actual baker made the meringue!
After the meringue was baked, I let the pie cool down and then put it in the refrigerator to chill. When it was ready I dug in! The flavors all together were light and summery. I loved how the sweetness from the strawberries were off set a bit with the tartness of the lemon flavor. Pete tried it and gave it a 9.7 out of 10 which is pretty close to a perfect score.
Let me know if you decide to make this pie. Overall, it was pretty easy and didn’t take too long, but the meringue on top made me feel like I was learning a new skill which was fun. If you have any suggestions for a future baking challenge, send them my way. I’m excited because for the September bake I want to switch back to a savory recipe. Stay tuned!
Sending you all lots of love,
Alanna
every so often... 
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