Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie In Toasted Pecan Crust Food

LEMON MERINGUE ICE CREAM PIE

Steps:

• For the lemon curd: Whisk eggs and egg yolks together in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Melt butter in a medium metal bowl set over a large pot of simmering water.
• Whisk in sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel and salt. Gradually whisk in eggs yolk mixture. (Thin stream and whisk constantly, be careful not to cook the eggs. May want the egg yolks at room temperature before beginning this step.).
• Continue cooking and whisking until thick and thermometer reads 178-180 degrees F, about 8 minutes. (I was unable to get my mixture above 162, even after turning water up to boiling and cooking for 14 minutes, but it seemed thick, so I stopped for fear of over cooking, and it turned out fine.).
• Transfer curd to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressed down to the surface. Chill for a minimum of 4 hours.
• NOTE: Curd can be made up to 2 days ahead.
• For the crust: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix together pecans, sugar and butter in a medium bowl until moistened. Press into a 9-inch glass pie dish--mixture will be crumbly. (I used a 10-inch glass pie dish.).
• Bake crust until lightly toasted, about 12 minutes. Crust will slip down the sides of the dish. Use the back of a spoon to press crust back into place.
• Cool crust on a rack. Freeze crust for 30 minutes.
• Dollop 1 1/2 cups of the softened ice cream into the bottom of the crust and spread into an even layer. Spread the lemon curd over the ice cream and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. (Note: I froze after putting in the first ice cream layer, too, for about 30 minutes.).
• Spread the additional 1 1/2 cups of softened ice cream over the curd and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.
• For the meringue: Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in a medium bowl until frothy. Beat in cream of tartar. With mixer running, gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon meringue over pie, swirling decoratively.
• NOTE: All steps above can be done up to one day ahead of time. Freeze pie until ready to brown the meringue.
• To finish the pie, using a kitchen butane torch, toast the meringue until golden in spots or place pie in a preheated 500 degree F oven until meringue is golden in spots, watching to prevent burning (about 3 minutes). (I used the oven method.).
• Cut pie into wedges and serve immediately.

LEMON ICE CREAM PIE WITH PECAN CRUST

Steps:

• For Lemon Curd: Whisk eggs and egg yolks in medium bowl. Melt butter in medium metal bowl set over large saucepan of simmering water. Whisk in sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt; gradually whisk in egg mixture. Whisk until thick and thermometer inserted into curd registers 178-180 degrees F, about 8 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Press plastic wrap on top of curd; chill 4 hours. (this can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.).
• For Crust: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix pecans, sugar and butter in medium bowl until moistened. Press pecan mixture onto the bottom and up sides of a 9-inch diameter glass pie dish (mixture will be crumbly). Bake until crust is lightly toasted, about 12 minutes (crust will slip down sides of dish). Use back of spoon to press crust back into place. Cool crust on rack. Freeze crust 30 minutes.
• To put it all together: Put ice cream over frozen crust; spread into even layer, spread lemon curd over ice cream; freeze about 2 hours, until firm. Or for a prettier pie, put 1 1/2 cups ice creams then 1/2 the lemon curd, then rest of ice cream and top with remainder of lemon curd.
• When ready to serve, spread whipped topping over lemon curd.