The recipes

Ok, so somebody wanted the pie recipes. Here is the Lemon Meringue filling.

Ingredients
Lemon Filling:
4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 (9-inch) pre-baked pie shell
1 recipe Meringue, recipe follows
Directions
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk egg yolks in medium size mixing bowl and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, water, sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine. Turn heat on medium and, stirring frequently, bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually, 1 whisk-full at a time, add hot mixture to egg yolks and stir until you have added at least half of the mixture.

Return egg mixture to saucepan, turn heat down to low and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and gently stir in butter, lemon juice, and zest until well combined. Pour mixture into pie shell and top with meringue while filling is still hot. Make sure meringue completely covers filling and that it goes right up to the edge of the crust. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until meringue is golden. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Make sure pie is cooled completely before slicing.

Meringue Topping:
4 egg whites
1 pinch cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and then gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Use to top lemon filling.

Yield: topping for 1 (9-inch) pie

AND here is the chocolate pie filling:


Ingredients

3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked
Directions

Combine sugar, flour, milk, and chopped up chocolate in 2 quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Continue stirring for 2 minutes.
Mix a little of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, beating rapidly to avoid cooking the yolks. Stir the warm yolk mixture into the remainder of the chocolate mixture, and cook for an additional 90 seconds. Remove from heat, and stir in butter or margarine and vanilla.
Pour filling into pie shell, and chill until set. Top with whipped topping, and a little grated chocolate.

A couple things: stir it almost CONSTANTLY. I think that was part of my problem with my pie.

Here is the pie crust:

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
6 Tbsp. shortening
1/4 cup hot water
1 Tbsp. milk
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Preparation:

Place shortening in large bowl. Pour hot water and milk over the shortening. With a dinner fork, break up the shortening. Tilt bowl and beat quickly until the mixture looks like whipped cream. Pour flour and salt over shortening mixture and beat well with the fork, forming a dough that cleans the bowl.
Divide the pie crust dough into two parts and roll out between two sheets of waxed paper. Fit into pie shell and use as directed in recipe. Makes enough pastry for a filled 2 crust 8" or 9" pie.

To bake a single pie crust to be filled with an unbaked filling, line the pie crust with foil and pie weights (or dried beans), OR prick it with a fork. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F. oven for 13 minutes for the lined pie crust, then remove the foil and weights and bake for 7-13 minutes longer until the crust is light golden brown in spots. For pricked pie crust, bake for 20-25 minutes, pricking again halfway through baking time if the crust starts to puff up. Cool completely and fill.

A few tips on the pie crust: don't put ant more water that the recipe says. It'll be crumbly but that's OK. Also, refrigerate before you roll the pie crust out. Refrigeration kinda helps to cement it all together. When you roll the pie crust out roll it out on wax paper so that when you are ready to put it into the pie dish you can just 'flip' the dough into the dish. I'd love to know how your pies turn out if you make any (hint hint!).