Easy Pie Filing Desert

A sprig of fresh spearmint finishes off this serving of key lime pie filling. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Easy Pie Filing Desert

Over the years, I have worked with some amazing cooks especially pie makers. I learned quite early not to even try to match their pie crusts.

One year, I took the plunge and made a pie filing without a pie crust, serving it as a desert. The hack stuck and now I make most of my favorite pie filings for desert without a crust.

Key Lime pie, for example, makes a lovely summer desert. Bake it in a bread pan and double the meringue - 4 eggs whites with 1/2 cup of sugar beaten until the egg white peaks are stiff. Spread over the cooked pie filing.

Bake in oven at 350F for 7-10 minutes until meringue is light brown.

A glass bread pan nicely holds the pie filing to bake the meringue. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

After removing from the oven, let cool before serving. Don’t even try to snatch a taste, the filing will be quite hot. If you need to speed up the cooling process, you can place the glass bread pan in the refrigerator.

You can also bake these in individual ramekins to have ready to serve portions.

Other good pie filings to make include lemon meringue, chocolate and yes, even apple and cherry pies. I wouldn’t add meringue to the berry pies but whipped topping is handy to have when they cool off.

Charlotte