Yesterday was Pi Day – 3.14, so I made a pie!
I’ve never made a lemon cream pie, so I thought I’d try it out. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 Lemon, slided
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
7 tbsp butter – unsalted
2 cups sweetened condensed milk
8 oz Mascarpone cheese
Instructions:
Graham Cracker Crust
Spray 8″ pick plate w/ non-stick spray and set aside
Mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar in a medium bowl
Press the mixture into your pie plate along the bottom and up the sides. I use a large spoon to press the mixture on the bottom and then my fingers to get it up the sides.
Put in the freezer while you make the filling!
Lemon Cream Filling
Mix the Mascarpone cheese and powder sugar in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
In your mixing bowl (the bowl for your electronic mixer), whip heavy cream until soft peaks form, add the lemon juice and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
Add Mascarpone cheese mixture into the beaten heavy cream and mix on low speed just to combine.
Slowly add the condensed milk and beat until well mixed.
Get the crust out and pour the lemon cream mixture into your pie crust. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or until firm
Whipped Topping
Beat heavy cream and powdered sugar together in a mixer until stiff peaks form
Spread/pipe/decorate pie with the whipped cream and decorate with lemon slices.
Review:
This was a relatively easy pie to make. The graham cracker crust can be tough to get it to set well. I’m still working on my crumb to butter ratio. I might take it down to 6 tablespoons of butter. The freezer is key though.
I used store bought lemon juice. Bad idea. There wasn’t a ton of lemon flavor, so I think it would have been better had I used fresh lemon juice. Next time.
I skipped out on the whipped topping, because it was only me and Mike eating it. Not worth the effort. I did decorate it with the lemon slices though. I’m not sure the point of this, just for looks? Do you eat the lemon? Do you squeeze onto your pie? I don’t know. I squeezed it onto my pie so I’d get a little more lemon flavor. I might add a little graham cracker crumble to the top too…
Overall, not a bad pie, I think I just had the wrong expectations (lemon merengue flavor). Each bite got better and better. Overall, a good pi(e) day!
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