Lemon & Lime Merengue Pies

Happy Wednesday Folks!  I had a wonderful 4 day weekend... yes took an extra day of vacation as a mental health day.  Don't we all need those from time to time or is it just me?

Lemon Merenge Pie 

I was in a baking mood this weekend and made a Lemon Merenge pie for Sunday's barbeque at our house. I figured it could be one of my last 'summery' pies before I go into Fall baking season.  I am very much a seasonal baker.  In Florida, Fall is not as obvious a season as in other states, but once I put up Fall decor and start having Pumpkin spice lattes, I tend to switch my baking to Apple, Cinnamon, and "Pumpkiny" treats. I also happen to have some sort of Maple tree in my yard, which has leaves that change color and fall off... it's my favorite! It's like a tiny piece of Northern foliage in my yard. I'm clearly getting carried away dreaming of Fall....

Back to the pie:  I used basic ingredients in my pie, as usual.  I'm no Martha Stewart or anything, but some of the best pies I've tasted,  were made from the simplest recipes.  Lemons, Sweetened condense milk, a grater (to get some lemon zest), eggs, and some sugar (along with a tiny bit of cream of tartar too) are all I used.

the beginnings of a Lemon Merenge Pie 

My husband, who likes Lemons, but absolutely LOVES limes, bought some Persian Limes at a local farmer's market and suggested I substitute Limes for Lemons in the recipe and make him a Lime Merengue Pie.  It sounded weird, but easy enough to do so I gave it a go and to my surprise, he ended up liking the pie.

One Lime Merengue pie and One Lemon Merengue pie

The recipe I usually use for my Lemon Merengue Pie is "Paula Deen's Lemon Merengue Pie"
(I do tend to tweak or change amounts/measurements of certain ingredients)

Happy baking!