Apple pie, pumpkin pie, mud pie (it is not really mud), custard pie, black berry pie. All great pies, but one pie not on that list really stands out to me: lemon meringue pie! The main difference is that includes more layers than a normal pie. How many layers do you think lemon meringue pie has? Five! Five layers of delicious elements all combined to make one great dessert. I devoured a slice of lemon meringue pie in Hawaii just a few days ago. The best part was that it was homemade!  I feel homemade pies are special because they are made with love.

Even though it tastes amazing, lemon meringue pie is actually really hard to make.  A great pecan crust at the bottom makes layer number one. Think, what pie has a pecan crust? Not many. Making this layer is simple. Get a pie pan and spread the pecan mixture (melted butter and chopped pecans) all across and sprinkle a little sugar.

Layer number two consists of, well, just lots and lots of vanilla ice cream (about one and a half inches). The sweetness from the ice cream is a perfect balance to layer number three, a tangy lemon curd.

Spread more vanilla ice cream again for layer four!  As you can see, layers two, three, and four kind of make a pattern: vanilla ice cream, lemon curd, then vanilla ice cream again. A lot of you probably have been wondering, where’s the lemon meringue?  Since meringue is very light and delicate, it will go on the top. Mix egg whites, sugar, and lemon juice together and boom, you get lemon meringue. This may sound easy, but it actually is really hard to make it light and fluffy. But we are not done yet.  It is blow torch time! Using a blow torch, heat the center of the meringue until it turns golden brown (if you do it too much it will turn into burnt meringue!). If it’s burnt, it’ll look like this:

Ewww! Who would want to eat this burnt pie?

A perfect pie should look like the homemade pie baked for our family below. I think that the sweet vanilla ice cream mixes very well with the tangy lemon curd, the crunchy crust, and the fluffy meringue. It takes a while for all these flavors to set, but it is well worth it when you take your first bite of this delicious LEMON MERINGUE PIE!!!!!!!

Pie is not the only great food I have tried in Hawaii.  This place also has sweet fruit!  Check back for my next post on this topic.