Sweet & Sour

"End dinner on a perfect note with this unbelievably light Lemon Chiffon Pie. It's so lemony and so good."

Really, Knox? Lemony? Wow. It is, after all, a LEMON Chiffon Pie. Catering to the assumed ignorance of the housewife, again I see.

This recipe appears in my favorite gag-reflex-inducing gel-cookery cook book: Knox On-Camera Recipes (c) '62

1 envelope Knox Unflavored Gelatine
1 cup sugar, divided
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water [I subbed lemonade for fear of bland behavior on the pie's part]
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 9-inched baked pie shell [I took this as a cue to buy a frozen pre-fab crust at the grocery]

1] Mix gelatine, 1/2 cup of the sugar and salt thoroughly in top of double boiler.
2] Beat egg yolks, lemon juice and water together; add to gelatine.
3] Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until gelatine is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
4] Remove from heat and stir in grated lemon rind.
5] Chill, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon.
6] Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar.
7] Fold gelatine mixture into stiffly beaten egg whites [like a Gap retail employee, you'll be folding for what seems like eternity].
8] Turn into a baked pie shell.
9] Chill until firm. Garnish with whipped cream if desired.*

*10] Whip 1 pint whipping cream until bitter. As in frustrated. Plain Jane whipped cream has the flavor of a packing peanut, so I took liberties, adding 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 1 T vanilla and a little lemon zest. I absolut [as in you'll need a shot of vodka before you finish up this dessert]-ly advise you do the same. Upside to this pie - aside from the crust, it's a no bake dessert.

Yummmm...
This dessert was worth the blood, sweat and gelatine [is it me or is that spelling awkward? it, like the texture of Knox, leaves a bad taste in my mouth]. I was proud to serve it to my friends - and want to make mention that it goes well, really, really, really well with a bottle of pino. If I had the time and energy that the bouffant on-camera ladies of Knox had, I would have crafted a crust from scratch. But I didn't. This chiffon pie is a kindred spirit of mine - sweet and sour [just ask my darling husband].