Orange Butterscotch Meringue Pie

In a medium sized bowl, add flour, sugar and salt and whisk together to combine.

Next add your butter cubes to flour and using your pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until various sized crumbs appear.

Slowly add the cold water into the flour until a ball of dough forms. Start with 1/4 cup and add more water if you need it. Knead the dough quickly to bring it together. Don’t worry if there is any flour left in the bowl.

Remove the dough from the bowl and round into a ball. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 45-55 minutes to rest.

Mix ½ cup sugar with flour. Mix egg and egg yolks and add to the sugar mixture. Add milk, and salt and beat well with a whisk then set aside.

Brown ½ cup of sugar in a heavy pan over medium heat. Allow the sugar to melt slowly. When completely dissolved, continue to cook until the syrup is a golden color.

When sugar is browned, add 1 tbsp of very hot water, whisking constantly. Continue whisking as you slowly add the egg-milk mixture into the browned sugar. Cook until it thickens.

Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter.

Bring a medium pot filled with about 2 inches of water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Set a medium bowl over the pot, add all the ingredients, and whisk to combine. Then heat, whisking constantly, or beating with a hand mixer, until the mixture reaches 160 F on a thermometer.

Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to whisk or transfer the heated mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whip the mixture on medium-high speed until it reaches medium peaks, 2 to 3 minutes for the regular meringue, or 4 to 5 minutes for the mile high version.

Pile the meringue on top of the cooled pie. Spread the meringue out to the edges, but keep it mounded a bit higher in the middle. If desired, toast the meringue with a kitchen torch.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Remove dough from the fridge and add a bit of flour to a working surface or clean counter and place dough on it. Using a rolling pin, quickly roll dough out to about 1/4-1/3 inch thickness and place in your pie plate.

Line the dough with parchment paper and add pie weights to your crust then bake for 15-20 minutes.

Next remove pie crust from the oven and lower the temperature to 350.

Pour filling into baked pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes then allow to cool. In the meantime, prepare the meringue.