Whilst making the crust, I'm fairly certain I erred in many places. For example, you don't want to over-work the part where you cut in the shortening, but you want the shortening in "pea sized pieces." What? I basically ended up with some salt sized pieces and some pieces that looked like cashews. I gave up because I didn't want to over-work it.
Then, you have to add water in bits to moisten the dough. Recipe says to add "5-6 tbsp water." Again, what? Baking cannot have wishy washy measures!! That's why I love it so much! Gah. Well, I added my water and tossed it lightly with a fork as was requested. However, even after the 6 tbsp, the dough still didn't all seem moistened! Ahhh, I don't want to add too much water or else the crust will be tough! (Yes, there should be exclamation points everywhere, because I feel this accurately expresses my stress levels when trying to do this.) So, even though it looked a little dry (and didn't form a dough ball terribly well) I decided to move on and roll it out.
Rolling dough. Easy, right? Dream on my friends. First off, I don't have a rolling pin, so I used a wine bottle. Yessss. Anyway, the dough quite simple refused to stay in a pretty circle, and it was not all glossy and pretty looking like it was in the recipe book. It looked like it kinda wanted to fall apart on me. And then there was this whole "make it 12" in diameter" thing. Who knows what 12" is? I certainly don't. So did I get a ruler out? No. I wung it. (That's right, wung should be the past tense of wing.) Then I was supposed to make this non-circle fit into a pie pan, and then make the edges look pretty. HA. At least it was actually in the pie pan. Close enough for me.
Finally, I was supposed to bake it til golden brown, which of course it never did (see photo below for when I finally gave up and hoped it was cooked enough). Regardless, it looks more or less like a pie crust.
Then, I had to juice a BAJILLION key limes. Those tiny things are a hassle. But luckily, key lime filling is absurdly easy. Woot! So while that is baking you have to try to time making the meringue so that it will end JUST as the pie finishes cooking because you want to add the stiff peaked meringue straight to a piping hot pie. No fun at all. So, I was making my meringue and realized that I was totally f'd, since I was way ahead of time. So I was about to wait a bit to add the sugar, but the recipe said "NO." So I didn't. The meringue was just done a little early. Aaaand, I may have gone overboard with the mixing. You're meant to mix til you have stiff peaks....I think I mixed til I had a consistency more like...well, there are no words. But past stiff peaks. Sigh. So, I added it to the pie, and remembered at that point that, just like last time, there was an obscene amount of meringue for the size of the pie. Oh well, such is the recipe. Maybe I'll fuss with it next time.
So then, which I didn't realize til after I had started making it, I had to let it sit for an hour then fridgidate for 3-6. So, I was under the impression that no one would be coming over at midnight to try it that night. Except me and Marc, of course...BUT! The math guys came over, and the 5 of us had pie. I was a little disappointed in the crust, but everyone else loved the pie. Like, went back for seconds loved it. Some went back for thirds. I saved a bit for Lokes (Laura K), Lauren, and Adam, but only Loki got her piece. Ren and Adam never came to claim their pieces so Marc and I claimed them. Nom.
So more details on the pie: it was absurdly limey, which everyone present liked. If you are looking for a not-tart key lime pie, though, don't ask me to make it for you. Also, it had a very custardy texture as opposed to a made from jello or something texture. It felt very not fake, which I liked. The meringue topping sort of melted in your mouth instead of having any real texture, which I believe is due to my over-whipping it. Still fairly tasty though. And the crust. Oh crust. I thought it was truly meh, no real taste, just sort of a thing to keep your pie together. No delightful flakiness. Nothing special at all. All present said I was being silly, though, and that it was pretty good. Own worst critic or over nice friends? Unclear.
Anyway, up next is....either peanut butter pie or cupcakes of some kind or carrot cake. Post to follow :)
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