It's All About... Texture, Texture, Texture

If flavor could completely rule out texture, then my Sugar Free Chocolate Cream Pie with Sugar Free Meringue might have been doable.  The flavor of this pie for Week 23, however, did not have that capacity.

For Week 23 I wanted to celebrate a friend and long time member of my church by baking a pie.  Carole's birthday came as she was packing up her life to move to the east side of the county where she would no longer be able to attend our church.  Carole is diabetic, so I promised I would deliver a sugar free pie that she could eat at our next women's gathering.  I found a recipe called the Best Tasting Sugar Free Chocolate Cream Pie from Suite101.com, and based on the name I thought it might deliver the proper results.

Covering hot custard or cream filling with plastic wrap directly on it can help keep the filling from forming a "skin"

Hot filling ready for meringue topping

Whipping up sugar free meringue topping

Beautiful pie with fluffy meringue waiting to be baked

Overbaked meringue on a not so delicious pie.  Bummer.

Sadly, as I have already stated, the pie was not one of my successes.  All of the women gathered that evening were quite gracious toward my disappointing pie, but the truth remains....

The crust was excellent, as I stuck with the All Butter Crust recipe I have grown so fond of using.  The flavor of the filling was decent, but the texture and denseness were, um, let's just say I still squirm at the memory of it in my mouth.  The sugar free meringue topping is also a rather unpleasant memory--both overcooked and strangely textured.

While the company for the evening was delightful and entertaining, the dessert was laughable and will not be attempted again.