I saw this Shaker Lemon Pie Recipe on an episode of Cook's Country a while back and just had to try it. The Pie has been around for a very long time. A group of folks in the Ohio area known as “The Shakers” developed this pie back in the early 1800's. They couldn't grow lemons in Ohio so they need to “import” them from New Orleans and since they didn't want to waste any part of this wonderfully tart fruit, they wanted to use every bit of it so they came up with a lemon pie recipe that would use the whole lemon. The original recipe calls for the thinly sliced lemons to be put in a bowl with the sugar and refrigerated overnight but this recipe saves a lot of time because you can just cook out the bitterness!
Shaker Lemon Pie Recipe
You will need 6 tablespoons of lemon juice to make this shaker lemon pie recipe so be sure to have an extra lemon on hand just in case the 3 lemons do not give you enough juice.
Here's what you are going to need:
1 double-crust pie dough (I used my Flaky Pie Crust Recipe)
3 large lemons, sliced extra thin and seeded
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 Tablespoon Raw Sugar (optional)
Here's what you need to do:
Set your oven up so that you have rack in the lowest position in your oven. Preheat oven to 425° F.
Line a 9-inch pie plate with dough. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Make sure that your lemons are sliced paper thin so that your filling will be smooth. As you can see, it took me a while to figure out to freeze the lemons before slicing so not all of my slices were paper thin. It didn't so much effect the taste of the pie but it did effect the texture. It wasn't quite as creamy as I would have liked because it had some chunks of lemon rind in it.
I froze my lemons for an hour to make them easier to slice and then used a mandolin to get them paper thin.
Squeeze lemon slices in fine-mesh strainer set over bowl. Set aside the juice. You should have 6 Tablespoons. If not, you'll need to squeeze another lemon to make the 6 Tablespoons.
Place the squeezed and drained lemon slices along with 3 cups water into a medium pot.
Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 15 minutes until the slices are softened.
Drain well. Throw the water away. It's bitter and not good for anything.
Combine softened lemon slices, sugar, salt, and 4 Tablespoons of the reserved lemon juice in bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves.
Whisk together the cornstarch and remaining 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice in large bowl.
Add the eggs.
Whisk the eggs into cornstarch mixture until incorporated.
Slowly stir in lemon slice mixture a little at time until combined. You don't want to add the hot lemon slices to the eggs too quickly or the eggs will begin to cook and you will have scrambled eggs.
Mix well.
Pour into the well chilled pie shell.
Top with the remaining dough round.
Seal the pie and crimp the edges. Brush top of dough with the cream. Cut 4 vents in top of dough.
Sprinkle with the raw sugar, if desired.
Bake in the preheated 425° oven until light golden, about 20 minutes. Decrease the oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before serving.
This Shaker Lemon Pie is both sweet and tart. It wasn't in the least bit bitter. I really think you're gonna enjoy its' bright lemon flavor!
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