Peanut Butter Meringue Cream Pie

This is a stovetop pie made the old way, with proper pastry cream cooked in a double boiler and crowned with meringue baked just until the peaks turn gold. None of the pudding-mix shortcuts that creep into modern peanut butter pies. Twenty minutes of patient stirring builds a silky, dense custard that holds its shape under the meringue without weeping.

The surprising note in the filling is the dash of ground ginger. It’s barely there, an eighth of a teaspoon, but it lifts the peanut butter flavor and adds a faint warm-spice undercurrent that keeps the pie from sliding into one-dimensional sweetness.

The meringue technique is critical. Adding sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating between additions, fully dissolves the sugar so the meringue stays glossy and stiff instead of grainy and weeping. Spreading meringue onto a hot filling and sealing it edge-to-edge with the crust prevents shrinkage and keeps water from beading underneath after baking.

Pro Tips

• Scald the milk by heating until small bubbles form at the edge of the pan. Cold milk takes hours to thicken into custard.
• Temper the egg yolks by streaming hot custard into them while whisking constantly. Reverse-pouring scrambles the yolks.
• Use room-temperature egg whites for the meringue. Cold whites refuse to whip to full volume.
• Make sure the bowl and beaters are spotlessly clean and dry. Even a trace of fat or yolk prevents whites from whipping.
• Spread meringue all the way to the crust edge, sealing it. Gaps cause shrinkage.

Variations

• Add 2 ounces of melted bittersweet chocolate to the custard for a chocolate-peanut butter version.
• Top with chopped roasted peanuts after baking the meringue for added crunch.
• Use a chocolate cookie crumb crust instead of pastry for a richer counterpoint.