Skip to main content

Lemon Icebox Pie

Lemon Icebox Pie

Lemon Icebox Pie (eggless) recipe

1 8-oz block cream cheese, room temp
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh or bottled lemon juice
Zest of two lemons

vanilla wafer pie crust in a pie pan

Using a cheap, light hand mixer, cream the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sweetened condensed milk -- NOTE: NOT EVAPORATED MILK!!! -- and cream the two together until smooth. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, and mix until fully incorporated and smooth. Pour into a prepared cookie crumb pie crust of your choice (wouldn't dark chocolate wafer cookies be an interesting choice?), and chill overnight.

This is not your Mama's lemon ice box pie recipe. Your Mama may have used raw egg yolks to thicken an Eagle-Brand-and-lemon-juice mixture. And there ain't nothin' wrong with that, exactly, but I am just a little too squeamish to put up with such glib trust in the American food source system. I'm not saying The Man is out to get us. I'm just saying I don't know what The Man is doing in enclosed egg-laying operations.

Anyway, even if this recipe is devoid of eggs, and you might worry (as I initially did) that the cream cheese would somehow dull that tart lemon edge that 1974 lemon ice box pie boasted, this modernized version is very good and tart, and it sets up beautifully when chilled overnight.

And the vanilla wafer crumb crust is soooo good with this filling! I highly recommend it. Oh, sure, I might toy with the idea of a chocolate crust, but that would be madness. 

Here's a picture of my pie gussied up with lemon slices and a sprig of mint, which I'm pretty sure my husband ate. I really wanted to find some foliage from a lemon tree to garnish the pie, but I just do not know where to find a lemon tree in East Tennessee. Roses are edible... maybe I should have bought some roses and scattered petals over the pie. 



But I didn't want to go to the store when I could have spent that time cutting into the pie and eating it.

So lemon slices and boring old mint sprig it is, and I hope I find something a little more interestingly decorative for the next pie.

Serve with whipped cream or, if you really want to bring the 1970's back, a big blob of Cool Whip is very good, too.

More pictures...






I really hope you try this pie, and let me know how your crust turns out!

--Bay
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 24, 2023 at 7:37 PM

    Note to self (and anyone else who accidentally reads this abandoned blog): Use a deep dish pie plate.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fabulous Turkey Brine

 Fabulous Turkey Brine 3/4 cup kosher salt 1/3 cup sugar 2 Tbsp whole coriander seeds 1 Tbsp fennel seeds 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 4 cloves garlic, crushed 3-4 bay leaves 2 carrots, diced 2 celery stalks, diced 1 onion, diced (or half of one onion plus 1-2 shallots, diced) 2 gallons cool water A 12 to 21-pound turkey Combine the vegetables, aromatics, herbs, salt, and sugar with the 2 gallons of water in a large vessel (21-quart pot for a small turkey, 5-gallon bucket for a large one). Stir. Add turkey. Ensure the breast is under water -- employ weights if necessary. (A foil-covered brick has been known to make itself useful in such circumstances in my kitchen.)  Brine for 2 to 3 days. Remove the turkey from the brine the night before Thanksgiving. Pat dry and -- ideally -- chill the turkey in the refrigerator, uncovered, to allow the skin to dry out overnight. Dry turkey skin gets browner during cooking. Follow the directions on the turkey's packaging for the actual co...
1 comment
Read more

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce  12 oz. fresh cranberries, washed and drained 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1/4 to 1/3 cup water 1 1/2 cinnamon sticks 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg The zest and juice of one small-to-medium orange Pick through the cranberries carefully to remove the squishy/bad ones. Rinse and drain. Combine cranberries, sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, and water in a medium pot. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to simmer; cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the orange juice and zest, then allow the sauce to cool before serving at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers; sauce will be good for 10-12 days. I never even liked cranberry sauce until I tried this recipe. Neither did my husband. My mother-in-law used to send us searching for an orange cranberry relish at grocery stores all over Knoxville -- I only found it twice, but when I did find it, I bought her three containers of it.  This recipe is so good, I cannot imagine having Thanksgiv...
2 comments
Read more

Spaghetti's meat sauce

 Spaghetti's meat sauce recipe ¼ to ½ sweet onion, chopped 1 sweet bell pepper, chopped 1 lb. ground beef 2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce 1 6-oz. can tomato paste 2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced 2 Tbsp Italian herbs, extra oregano ½ tsp. cinnamon A pinch of sugar; salt & pepper Cook the onion and green pepper in olive oil until soft and fragrant; scoop out and set aside. Brown the ground beef in the fragrant oil left in the cast iron; drain off the fat. Return onion & pepper to the pan; add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, a spoonful of crushed garlic. Stir. Sprinkle herbs over the top of the sauce. Stir. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the top of the sauce. Stir & add a pinch of sugar. (The sugar takes the edge off the acid in the tomatoes as well as counterbalancing the cinnamon.) Salt & pepper to taste. Simmer while your spaghetti noodles are cooking in salted water. Sprinkle freshly grated good parmesan cheese over the top if desired. ...
2 comments
Read more