Lemon Icebox Pie
It's from Martha Hall Foose's Screen Doors and Sweet Tea and like many beloved cookbooks, it's not just about recipes, it's about the memories and stories associated with each lovingly-made dish. Foose is from the Mississippi Delta (though she spent time in France training as a pastry chef), so her tales are about the South and for me they conjure up images of a slower, more genteel time, filled with family and neighbors gathering over simple, but well-prepared food - a welcome respite from our current, fast-paced, technology-driven lives.
Lemon Icebox Pie
Adapted from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook by Martha Hall Fosse
Makes one 9" pie
Prepare Crust
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place in microwave-proof mixing bowl and melt in microwave:
1 stick unsalted butter (4 oz or 8 tablespoons)
Mix together with melted butter:
1 1/2 cups / 150 g graham cracker crumbs (approx. 10 - 5" x 2 1/4" graham crackers) [I use a food processor to crumble the crackers]
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Press into a 9" glass Pyrex pie plate and bake for 6 - 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool on a wire rack. (Leave oven on.)
Prepare the Filling
In a large bowl, whisk together:
2 (14-oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained
5-10 minutes before you plan to whip the heavy cream, place your mixing bowl and beaters in the frig or freezer to chill. Having everything cold helps whip the cream into nice, fluffy peaks.
When the pie is completely cooled, whip together until stiff peaks form:
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Mound the whipped cream on top of the pie and chill for 1 hour.
Alternatively, if you want to make ahead, you can cover the "naked" pie with plastic wrap (stick a few toothpicks into the pie for the plastic wrap to sit on top of) and keep the pie in the frig overnight, then finish with whipped cream the next day.
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