We've gotten to celebrate two birthdays very recently, together as a family. Joey turned 26 this year while he was offshore. His mother and grandmother have been visiting with us this last week and a half so we celebrated together when Joey got home from being offshore. Joey and I have been celebrating birthdays with each other for the last 9 years and oh how special that is to me.

Pamela's gluten free vanilla cake mix, flavored with lemon essential oil and vanilla bean. Filled with raspberry "compote" and topped with vanilla bean "7 minute" frosting. Naturally colored sprinkles on top.

Homemade organic peanut butter ice cream on the side.

Today is Joey's grandma's 79th birthday. And I love that we get to celebrate together before they head home tomorrow. She requested enchiladas and a lemon meringue pie for her birthday meal. So that she shall have, besides, try arguing with her, I dare you. ;)

Here's my recipe for a lemon meringue pie.

::Lemon Meringue Pie::

1- 9 inch pie crust {Use this recipe}

For filling:

1 cup local honey

1/2 tbsp agar agar powder*

1 1/3 cups water

A pinch of Himalayan pink salt

6 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2-3 large lemons)

2 tbsp unsalted butter

Zest from one large lemon (approximately 1 1/2 heaping tbsp)

2 drops of lemon essential oil

For meringue:

6 room temperature egg whites

1/4 tsp agar agar powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup local honey

To make the filling:

Combine the water, the honey, the salt, and the agar agar powder in a medium size non reactive pot. Whisk occasionally while bringing to a simmer over medium low heat. Simmer a couple minutes to allow mixture to thicken. Slowly temper your egg yolks with some of the hot honey mixture. (While whisking constantly, slowly pour a bit of the hot mixture into the eggs. You do not want to make scrambled eggs so please, go slow. Continue doing this till you've added about 1 cup of the hot mixture to the yolks.) When done tempering your egg yolks, slowly combine this back into the simmering liquid. Add the zest, lemon juice, butter and essential oil. Whisk until smooth. Pour filling into your cooked pie crust and let sit while you make the meringue.

To make the meringue:

Add the agar agar powder into the egg whites and start whisking on medium high speed on your stand mixture or with a handheld electric beater with the whisk attachment. (You can do this all by hand but oi.) Whisk until soft peaks begin to form. Add the vanilla and honey. Continue beating the whites until hard peaks form. (When you pull the {off} whisk out of the egg whites they will stay standing up without falling over.) Top your pie with the meringue so that it covers the filling and pie crust completely.

Cut a thin slice of lemon and then cut a slit in the slice, from the middle out to the edge. Twist and put on top of meringue to garnish.

Bake at 350℉ for 20 minutes, till the meringue is a nice golden brown.

Let cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge to chill for a couple hours before serving.

*Revision: The pie I made today set up, hard. It set up like no other lemon meringue pie has set up before. It was really dense jello. I revised the amount of agar agar powder to reflect a much more reasonable amount. This should mean your pie should be nice and creamy. Not the weird thing we just ate. I shall test it out again soon and make any further revisions if needed.*