Apple Pie with Meringue Cream

I've converted this recipe from French metric, and it seems to work really well. It's not a single-bowl kind of recipe, but it's well worth it. The word"emmitouflée" is used to describe someone well dressed against the cold, but I'm guessing here it means 'slathered' or 'encased' or something of the sort - the apples are under a tasty blanket of sweet meringue.

Les pommes emmitouflées de Grand-Mère

Part 1 - the pie crust

1 cup flour

1⁄4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces

1 egg yolk

1 Tbsp + cold water

1. Follow the instructions for the Cookie Pie Crust, but substitute the vanilla for 1 egg yolk and be careful about the amount of water you add to avoid having a wet dough. Roll out, place in a pie plate and keep in the refrigerator until the filling is ready. Do not pre-bake.

Part 2 - the filling; apples

5 to 6 large apples, firm when cooked

1⁄4 cup (2oz/58gr) butter 

1⁄4 cup apricot jam

1. Peel and core the apples, then slice them into sections about 1⁄4" thick.
2. Melt the butter and get it to froth before adding the apples. Cook until the apples just start to brown. Finally, add the apricot jam and allow to melt completely before taking the pan off the heat.

Part 3 - the topping

1 Tbsp (1⁄2 oz/14gr) butter

1⁄4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
1⁄4 cup sugar

1. In a small bowl, cream the butter as best you can, getting it nice and soft, before adding half the sugar and the three egg yolk, one at a time. Beat vigorously until you get some volume out of the mix.
2. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites, adding the rest of the sugar. Beat until the whites become hard peaks - you should be able to rest a teaspoon on top of the whites without it sinking.
3. Add a bit of the whites into the butter-and-yolk cream, then pour this into the egg whites, gently folding so as to retain as much volume as possible.

Final Assembly

1. Pre-heat oven at 375°F.
2. In the chilled pie shell, pour in apple mixture, then top with the beaten egg mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top gets some nice colour.