- Today, I am making one of my favorite egg-based recipes.

It's called an Angel pie and it's really sort of like an upside down lemon meringue pie.

We're actually making the shell out of meringue and that's what I'm gonna show you first.

So I am measuring my egg whites to know exactly how many I have because eggs come in different size, which means egg whites are in different size.

And I'm going to add a little bit of cream of tartar, which is actually and acidic thing that is gonna help those egg whites get gorgeously billowy, soft, and cloud-like.

The next thing I'm going to do is I am going to get my sugar ready.

And I am going to add to that a little bit of cornstarch.

That cornstarch is going to help that meringue be crisp and delicious and hold up to the filling.

And we're gonna build it in stages.

Stage one is to beat those egg whites and that cream of tartar until it's frothy.

There we go.

Now my next step is, is I'm going to increase the speed and start putting air.

So I'm gonna let this go maybe a minute until we get to a stage called soft peaks.

And all that means is, is that that meringue is starting to look a little bit white and you're starting to see a little bit of movement of that whisk inside the eggs.

So look how quickly this is coming together and we're starting to get those soft peaks.

Now is when we crank up the speed and start putting in our sugar mixture.

If you add your sugar a tablespoon at a time, that means it's giving it time to dissolve in those egg whites an everything rises together.

And that's it.

We're gonna just keep feeding this in there and magic is happening in this bowl.

We're looking for what's called stiff peaks.

And all that means is is when you pull out some of these egg whites, see how that little top knot stays up there?

That is stiff peaks and that is exactly what we need for this pie shell.

What I have here is a pie plate.

Now I'm gonna take my meringue and plop it into the bowl.

And look at this.

I am going to spread this meringue into the pie plate to make a pie shell.

So see what I'm doing here with my spatula?

I am hollowing out a spot where our filling's going to go and I'm making pretty little dollops and little scallops and whirls and do-lollies around the edge so that this is gonna look pretty.

So what I'm going to do now is put it in the oven to bake.

This is a low temperature oven and I'm gonna let it be in there for about an hour until that you can tell that it's firm on top.

And so while that's in the oven, I'm gonna tidy up and tell you how to make the perfect lemon curd filling.

Lemon curd is a type of eggy custard that we use like jam or preserves.

It's not difficult.

First use a heavy bottomed pan.

Add egg yolks to the pan.

I always push the egg yolks through a mesh sieve into the pan that removes any traces of clinging egg white, the part of the egg most likely to curdle.

Make sure to scrape the bottom to remove as much of the yolk as you can.

While whisking, add the sugar in a slow, steady stream.

Then whisk in some lemon zest and juice.

Lastly, add the chunks of cold butter and turn the heat on medium-high.

Many recipes add butter at the end, but I add it from the get-go, because I find that the slow melting of the cold butter helps protect the delicate egg mixture from the heat as it cooks.

Whisk the mixture together, but then switch to a heatproof spatula while stirring.

Let it cook until the curd is thick, smooth, and begins to form small bubbles around the edge of the pan.

About eight minutes.

Stir slowly and evenly and be patient.

Nothing happens at first, but when the curd begins to thicken, it does set quickly.

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the curd through a mesh sieve into a clean bowl to remove the zest.

Check to see whether it's thick enough to coat the back of a spatula.

If you can wipe away a thin strip of curd and it doesn't close up, your curd is done.

The curd needs to be chilled before I use it, so I gently press a sheet of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the warm curd to prevent a skin forming on top while it's in the fridge.

That's it.

Once you know how to make lemon curd, you can use these same steps to make curd from other types of fresh citrus.

Wasn't that lemon curd easy?

And now, check out this pie shell.

It is completely cool and ready to use.

So let me show you how to do that.

So here is our gorgeous lemon curd.

I'm going to scrape this into our cooled pie shell.

I love how this looks.

It looks line sunshine, doesn't it?

And then, I like to take a little thing called a offset spatula and use that to smooth this into our pie shell right up to the edge.

Just that easy.

What goes on top is simple and delicious.

I whipped some cream and I'm gonna dollop that on top of this pie.

Let's add some color and freshness and even more flavor.

Look at these gorgeous, fresh berries.

You wanna make sure you've rinsed 'em and patted them completely dry.

Make sure I've got some raspberries and enough of everything.

And now, the last thing.

I'm gonna take some fresh mint.

I think fresh mint is irresistible with fresh berries and it goes so well with the lemon.

Last, but not least, lemon.

This baby right here is called a channel zester.

There's holes in the top and instead of the finely-grated zest you get, it pulls ribbons of the zest.

Put your thumb on the bottom of the lemon and make long, slow moves.

Look at these curls.

Look at these curls of zest.

It's magic.

Look at this, friends.

Our Angel pie is heavenly.