Originally Posted by
Skyangel
Yes, you can use 3 egg yolks and save the whites for meringue. My Mom's old recipe card (her first Mother-in-law taught her how to cook) had a meringue top. We always preferred whipped cream on top so my mom would use 2 whole eggs. And the change to cornstarch is mine as I have better luck thickening with cornstarch, plus my son is gluten free, so I do this and use gluten free pie crust so he can eat it.
I researched flour vs. cornstarch and here is what I learned. Cornstarch is a pure thickening agent while Flour has more additional ingredients so it takes less cornstarch than flour. Cornstarch thickens at a lower temp. than flour, so thickens faster and should not be overcooked once it has thickened. Flour is recommended to thicken anything that will be frozen like fruit pies because it takes longer to break down and using cornstarch for frozen pies can cause them to get runny when thawed. I knew cornstarch takes less and thickens faster, but I did not know about the overcooking or freezing. I tried your recipe and it was delicious but seemed too thick or too jelled. I thought it was due to using the extra egg yolk, but now I think if I cut the cornstarch in half or use flour it should make it better. Its very tasty and I ate the whole little pie in just a couple days!. (hanging my head in shame.) So I haven't tried any more since-no self control when it comes to pies- but think I will try it this way next week. (I'll make one for my birthday instead of a cake!) Thanks again for the recipe and update. Jan