Upside-Down Lemon Meringues

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease 10 mini pie pans; set aside.

For crust, separate eggs putting the egg whites in a clean and dry glass or metal bowl and saving the egg yolks for the filling. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and vanilla while continuing to whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in cereal and 1 cup almonds. Evenly divide the meringue into the pie pans. Press the meringue evenly around the edges of the pans and across the bottom. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn oven off and leave meringues in warm oven for an additional 15 minutes.

For filling, in medium saucepan combine condensed milk, lemon juice, zest and cornstarch. Blend in egg yolks. Cook over med-low heat stirring constantly until thickened. Cool pudding by placing the saucepan in a bowl of iced water. Stir pudding until cool being careful not to get any ice water into pudding mixture. When cooled, fold in carton of whipped topping and food coloring until combined completely. Fill crusts with filling.

If desired, garnish with crushed graham crackers and pipe additional whipped topping around the edges of each dessert.