[FREDTHECAT]

Does anyone know if you can prepare the actual lemon filling for a lemon pie the day before you need it and put in fridge with a cover? I am having guests that only like lemon mer. pie for desert. I am hoping to bake crust and lemon the night before and the night of, whip egg whites for mer topping, pour lemon in prepared crust, add mer to top and bake. Do you think this is safe?
I would appreciate opinions . THANKS.

[kuan]

Your lemon filling probably won't pour well if you refrigerate it.

I basically wouldn't care that my guests would eat only lemon meringue pie for dessert. Tough, if they care so much have them bring it. Gawd the nerve of some people. What are they gonna say if you bake an apple pie? Are they gonna tell you your pie stinks?

[yanick]

you can do it, you just have to «sceal» the dought with some eggs whites just before you cook it make sure there's egg white all over the surface of that crust you may want to repeat that a second time at a lower oven temperature that way the filling will less affect the crust and avoid the fridge, a dry cool place will do it for a night

[starrleicht]

I would just bake the whole pie the night before...I tend to agree that it's a bit on the arrogant side of the guests to insist on one particular pie, although I also understand the pleasure in pleasing guests when you know what they like, so....I'd bake the whole thing the night before! (Am I a bad gal for that???)

[KAYLINDA]

I'd bake it completely the night before also. We've had lemon meringue in our pie case for three days with very little change. After that, the meringue will sometimes start shrinking though....as well as the pudding drying out.

[Suzanne]

You can:

• blind bake the crust and store it at room temp
• make the filling a little stiffer than normal
• put the filling away in another pie pan (such as a disposable aluminum one of the same size as the crust) in the fridge
• whip the meringue just before dessert
• fit the filling into the crust; top it with the meringue; bake it off quickly or just torch it.

That's about the only way you can be sure that it won't get soggy or weep.

And while it may sound arrogant of guests to only want to eat lemon meringue, I can't help but think that it's a compliment to YOUR lemon meringue.

[bigbuns]

I just did 3 lemon meringue tarts for a wedding dessert table the day before the wedding. As mentioned above, I brushed egg white on the pate brisee crusts before baking. (It was also about 90 degrees in the un-airconditioned hall.) At 4:00 p.m. Sat., the crust was still crispy and the meringue perfect.