Sunshine Lemon Pie

Summer at our house means two things.

Afternoon swims and lemon pie.

Living in Los Angeles, about 30 miles from the nearest beach, means I spend most of the summer looking for places to swim for a couple of hours. We have our list of community pools we frequent, friends who gift us with pool time, and the occasional day pass at a hotel.

I’m happy to even be swimming, since last year, I only put a bathing suit on once.

Honestly, it feels good to be out in the world again. Cautiously and carefully, but here we are acting like gophers sticking our head out of a deep hole, making sure it is OK to come out.

I bask in the bit of normalcy with our afternoon swims and lemon pie.

This past weekend, I had two days of back-to-back 90 degree days and a bag of lemons that beckoned to be turned into a summer lemon pie. I was in the middle of writing, which means I was looking for a way to procrastinate edits on a chapter, so I went to the kitchen where I got lost in it all for a couple of hours.

There are a handful of ways to make a lemon pie, on this balmy Sunday, I opted to take my favorite Key Lime Pie recipe and use lemons instead.

So homemade graham cracker crust.

Lemon Zest.

Lemon juice.

Sweet Condensed Milk

It’s so easy to make and there isn’t a lot of oven use, which makes this a wonderful pie to create on a hot summer day.

This time I decided to peel my lemons first and then candy them for garnish on the pie. It was a game changer, if you have the patience, make candied lemon peel for everything.

Hope everyone is safe and letting themselves enjoy the moments of sweetness out there.

Sunshine Lemon Pie

Recipe revised from Mary Engelbreit’s Sweet Treat Dessert Cookbook

Graham Cracker Crust

1 package(1 full sheet) graham crackers finely crushed.

2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted

Lemon Pie Filling

4 large egg yolks

1 (14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk)

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 lemons)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F

2. Make the graham cracker crust. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. add the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Using your fingertips, press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.

3. Bake the crust for 8 to 10 minutes. Let the crust cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325 F

4. Make the lemon filling. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until blended. Whisk in condensed milk, then whisk in the lime zest and juice until blended. (Set aside and let it sit to room temperature while crust cools)

5. Bake the pie for 15 to 17 minutes, until the filling is just set. The center should jiggle slightly if gently shaken. Refrigerate the pie for at least 4 hours, until chilled.

xoxo, Have a great summer, you’re rad and to keep in touch.

Cindy Arora