Lemon Butter Pie
This lemon butter pie is pure sunshine in a slice ~ cool, creamy, and bursting with fresh lemon. A dreamy summer dessert that comes together with almost no baking.
Servings: 10 servings
Video
Equipment
- shallow 9 1/2 inch pyrex or metal pie plate, you want something that can go in the freezer if you plan to freeze your pie.
- instant read thermometer
- silicone whisk and spoonula are very handy but optional
Ingredients
crust
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 4 Tbsp butter, melted
lemon butter filling
- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cut in 1 tablespoon sized pieces. The butter should be firm but not cold. Room temperature is good.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a shallow 9 inch pie dish.
- Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter. I find this works best if I use my fingers. Once it's all combined and evenly moistened, gently press it into your pie dish. Don't worry about messy edges, one of the charms of this lemon pie is the ragged crumb crust.
- Bake the pie crust for 8 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- To make the lemon butter filling put the lemon juice, eggs and yolk, and sugar into a medium sized heavy saucepan. Whisk everything together well.
- Heat, whisking or stirring constantly, over medium to medium high heat until the mixture thickens and reaches 180F. I like to use a silicone whisk and spoonula for this job because it makes it easy to scrape the pan completely as the curd cooks. Note: if you haven't made curd or egg thickened sauces or puddings before you may want to stick to medium heat.
- Push the lemon curd through a strainer to remove any stray lumps of egg. Stir to cool the curd to 140F (this won't take long.)
- Transfer to a food processor and turn the machine on. Add the pieces of butter, one at a time, letting each incorporate before adding the next.
- Turn the creamy lemon into your pie crust and spread out evenly. Refrigerate the pie for at least several hours before serving. If you would like a firmer consistency you can pop the pie in the freezer.
- Serve the pie cold, or even frozen. If serving straight from the freezer you may want to let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes or so to soften a bit.
Notes
Why do I recommend using a silicone whisk and spoonula? Silicone is flexible, and so gets to every nook and cranny of your pan when you're thickening sauces, puddings, curds, and custards.
Nutrition
Calories: 344 kcal · Carbohydrates: 26 g · Protein: 3 g · Fat: 26 g · Saturated Fat: 15 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 7 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 135 mg · Sodium: 287 mg · Potassium: 65 mg · Fiber: 0.5 g · Sugar: 18 g · Vitamin A: 813 IU · Vitamin C: 5 mg · Calcium: 28 mg · Iron: 1 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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