Tomorrow we're having Pie Day at my office. They asked me to make a pie, as everyone knows I bake. And I am more than happy to provide a pie for pie day. However, by the time I got the email, (probably late due to being in a meeting) all of the standard pies I usually make were already taken, or just plain unsuitable for a winter pie. Why, yes, I do have a pie reportoire. What of it?
After some pie-related polling, I agreed to make a Lemon Meringue pie. Pie Day was originally supposed to be today, which was great, because I was going to bake a pie last night, and then cookies for my team tonight. But they had to move Pie Day, and I ended up having to do all my baking tonight.
First, I ruined the crust. Knowing that I was going to have a lot to do tonight, I cheated and bought a frozen pie crust. Normally I make my pies from scratch, really I do, but I've been trying to clamp down on my tendencies to take on way more than I can handle in a particular time period. Hence the frozen pie crust. Well, I opened the freezer to take the crust out, and something must have disturbed the balance of power in there because whammo! The package came flying out, aimed straight at my head. I ducked, and it hit the floor and shattered in to a gazillion pieces. I think I may have shouted "Motherfucker!" and meant it right at that moment.
So after a few minutes of debating whether or not it would just be easier to make a damn pie crust myself, I ran back out to the market to get another frozen one.
Then, while I was separating the egg yolks from the egg whites, a huge blorp of yolk got mixed in to the whites at the very last second. All of the cookbooks go on and on about how you can't have any fat in your egg whites to get a good meringue, so I had to throw them out and start over. And before I could do that, I had to warm four more eggs up to room temperature. All of which left me severely behind schedule, and most definitely cranky. I usually do three or four different kinds of cookies for my team, and this year they are getting one cookie and oatmeal toffee chocolate bars. Well, and little presents too. I do try to be a nice boss.
The meringue-making actually went fine (thank you Kitchen Aid Pro Mixer, retaining your title as the best purchase I have ever made), as did the filling. My pie certainly looks like a Lemon Meringue Pie. It had darn well better be delicious, is all I'm saying.
