New Pie Recipe

     On Tuesday Rachel and I received a lovely gift from a couple of our bee class alums. Walt and Leslie had just been to Sacramento, visiting Leslie's sister and attending a big beekeeper convention. They brought us back a nice bag of lemons, fresh picked off her Meyer lemon tree.  They also gave me a wonderful quick and easy lemon pie recipe which I tried out this morning (Thursday) with the enthusiastic assistance of Lance and Luna. It's called "Blender Lemon Pie" and comes to us from the pages of the "Sacramento Bee", my all time favorite name for a newspaper. So far everyone who has tasted it has liked it with the exception of Grandma Cozette. Her only comment was that my crust turned out real flaky. Since the recipe calls for running two entire lemons (with seeds removed first) through the blender, the pie turned out pretty tart and zesty. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
2 lemons (at least one of which is a Meyer lemon)
2 cups sugar (use superfine baker's sugar if available)
4 eggs
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
one nine inch unbaked pie shell
whipped cream (optional)

Instructions:
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  Wash the lemons and cut into quarters and remove seeds
  Place lemon quarters in a blender.
  Blend lemon, sugar, and eggs until lemon is pureed.
  Place a flat baking sheet on a rack in the middle of the oven to preheat.
  Pour melted butter into the lemon-egg mixture and continue blending at high speed 1 to 2 minutes.
  Pour mixture into a 9 inch unbaked pie shell.
  Place pie on the flat baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until the center is set and the surface is lightly browned.
  Allow to cool before slicing.
  Top with whipped cream if desired.

     This recipe is fairly forgiving as I forgot to add the butter, used regular granulated sugar, and it still set up nicely and tasted good.  I guess I did the low fat version on accident.  I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to modify the recipe to make it a meringue pie if that is your preference.  I liked the strong flavor of the lemon zest, but if you find it too strong, there is always the option of peeling one of the lemons. The Meyer lemons are reputed to be less strongly flavored than other lemons.  The color of the filling is actually a fairly strong yellow, but this light colored crust formed on the surface of the filling. The first time I ever made a lemon meringue pie from scratch it didn't set up well, the color was a rather pale yellow, and the recipe was relatively complex.  This one turned out well the first time, the color was great, and the recipe was easy.