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

A cruddy little kitchen, a lifetime of loving food

I was looking for a recipe. You know, like everyone else every day everywhere in the world, I wanted something tasty for dinner. I had salmon. I had old tried-and-true salmon recipes I've used happily in the past. I just wanted something different. So I Googled "honey bourbon salmon." This is a thing I've seen on menus. Sounds great. I can make that, can't I? I have honey, I have bourbon; I have salmon. I can make this! Then I spent an hour slogging through a half dozen recipe blogs with long stories, beautiful photographs, freestyle poetry singing the praises of farm-raised salmon -- or wild-caught salmon -- or canned salmon -- and all of it took ten to fifteen minutes to load out here in the boonies because all of those popular, beautiful recipe blogs were monetized. Ads flashed. Clickbait beckoned. Video players popped up and disembodied hands cracked eggs into stainless steel bowls. I scrolled down, ever downward, ever onward, trying to get past the homilies a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pork Chops and Gravy

Easy Pork Chops & Gravy recipe 5-6 pork chops 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup ½ envelope dry onion soup mix Worcestershire sauce 1 cup water Salt, pepper, flour Salt, pepper, and flour the pork chops. Turn on your favorite burner to a high medium heat -- 6.5 or 7, in other words. In batches, brown the chops in a couple of tablespoons of oil in a well-greased cast iron skillet. In a bowl, mix together the cream of mushroom soup, the half envelope of onion soup mix, cup of water, and several dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Return pork chops to skillet; pour soup mixture over, raising the chops a bit to allow the mixture to get all around the pork chops. Turn the burner down to medium-low (3), cover, and cook for one hour. Check frequently to ensure even cooking of the pork chops; add water as needed 1 tablespoon at a time; may add a little Worcestershire sauce as needed, too. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans. My sister called me long distance from Ellicott City, Maryland, to t...
Post a Comment
Read more