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This easy lemon pie is a tart dessert made with whole lemons! Simply blend the filling ingredients together in a blender, bake, and serve!
I love lemons.
I love them charred with roasted asparagus, squeezed into a bourbon sour, zested and juiced in a lemon risotto, and squeezed into a glass of fresh lavender lemonade.
Lemons just might be the perfect fruit.
Recently, I was flipping through Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home To Yours, and I saw a recipe for the Tartest Lemon Tart.
I was intrigued.
But I also wasn't feeling ambitious enough to make a tart crust from scratch, so I took her recipe and improvised.
And I fell in love.
This Lemon Pie with Whole Lemons is a variation of Dorie Greenspan's tartest lemon tart, and is in fact-- quite tart. It's similar to a key lime pie, but of course, is made with lemons instead of key limes.
That means no tediously juicing key limes! But all of the yummy sweet and tart deliciousness.
Does this Lemon Pie Really Use the Whole Lemon?
Yes!
Dorie Greenspan said to use the whole lemon, and I did. It's delicious.
You simply quarter the lemons, remove any seeds, and add them to a blender--zest, pith, and all.
Want another whole lemon recipe idea? Try these whole lemon bars from David Lebovitz.
Isn't the Lemon Pith Bitter?
A little bit.
The bitterness is balanced out by the sugar and creamy yogurt, and adds a little complexity to the lemon pie's flavor profile.
I don't recommend adding more than the 1 ½ lemons to your pie. And if your lemons are especially large, it's okay to just use 1 lemon to minimize any bitterness.
If you want a lemon pie that is less tart, without any trace of bitterness, try this Meyer lemon pie.
Can I Use Store-bought Graham Cracker Crust?
You can!
I prefer to make my own though, because it only takes about 10 minutes and tastes way better than any store-bought crust that I've found.
I use this vegan graham cracker crust recipe.
Can I Make This Pie Ahead of Time?
This pie is best when it's served within a day or two.
As the pie sits, the crust will get a little soggy-- so I recommend serving it on day 1, but leftovers will still be delicious the next day.
Make sure to store this lemon pie in the fridge.
How to Serve Lemon Pie with Whole Lemons
First, warn your guests that this lemon pie is tart (like a key lime pie), and not sweet like a lemon meringue pie.
Or don't, and watch their eyes grow in delighted surprise!
Serve this pie along with some vanilla ice cream or a dollop of fresh whipped cream, and enjoy!
Lemon Pie with Whole Lemons
Ingredients
Lemon Pie:
- 1 ½ lemons, cleaned + dried
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 2 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup Greek yogurt, plain (whole milk)
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted + cooled
- 1 graham cracker crust (homemade or store-bought)
- To serve: fresh whipped cream or a dusting of powdered sugar
Instructions
Lemon Pie
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Quarter the lemons + remove any seeds.
- Add the lemons (including the peel and pith) and sugar to a blender basin. Blend, scraping down the sides if needed, until smooth.
- Add the eggs, yogurt, cornstarch, and butter to the blender, and blend until smooth. Tap the blender on the counter a few times to remove as many bubbles as possible.
- Slowly pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust.
- Bake for 20 minutes, and then increase temperature to 350°F. Bake another 25-30 minutes, until the lemon filling has mostly set with a slight wobble.
- Serve within 1-2 days along with whipped cream or powdered sugar. If not serving within a few hours of baking, store covered in the fridge.
Notes
- Make sure to add the lemons to the blender first, and then the sugar. (Adding the sugar first will make it more difficult to blend.)
- If your blender struggles to get the lemon peel smooth, do not pour it into the pie crust with bits of peel. Instead, strain the batter through a mesh sieve.
Rose
I made this for my parents and they absolutely loved it! They're huge key lime pie fans. Thanks for the idea!
Faith
have made this 4times shared with 2 neighbors, absolutely loved it!
Alisha Trenalone
Wonderful! We're so glad you enjoyed it enough to share 😊
-Alisha at Champagne Tastes
Tracy
Oh I LOVE that you use the whole lemon! I always hate throwing so much of it away! My daughter had lemon cupcakes for her birthday last year and LOVED them - I think we're going to have to make this for her this year!
Sean@Diversivore
I LOVE lemons. Citrus desserts in general are 100% my thing, and lemon pies always make me happy. And now I have to say that I'm very into the idea of this recipe. The filling is a lot more nuanced than most lemon meringue pie fillings, and I personally love when citrus desserts embrace a bit of bitterness. I know that's not always the flavour that North Americans are looking to emphasize, but to me it's just a huge part of what makes citrus special. Oh, and I'm with you on the crust - store bought is fine, but a homemade graham wafer crust is so easy to make and so tasty!
Charity
I've never made any dessert with a whole lemon. Now I'm intrigued too! Sounds easy enough. I'm a lemon lover so it's worth a try. I don't mind a little bit of bitterness if it's balance by other ingredients.
Tina
Using a whole lemons are an intriguing idea I have to say! I like the idea that this tart like a key lime pie, because that is one of my favorite pies. I will definitely be trying this one out!
Amanda
I absolutely love a little bit of bitterness with my sweet and tart flavors, so I know I would love this lemon pie! Desserts made with the whole fruit are such a good idea--there's usually great nutritional components to the peels that we discard when we just use the juices. I recently discovered specialty "lemonade lemons" that you eat whole, rind and all. I bet they'd be delicious in this recipe also!
Trish Bozeman
This is absolutely gorgeous! I'm all about the no-waste recipes and using as much of the produce as possible. I've used whole lemons in smoothies, but never thought about baking with them. GENIUS! My blender isn't great, so I find that I need to juice and zest before adding everything into the blender. But it works!
Rowena Aubrey
This will be my go to recipe for dessert from now on. So easy and quick to make and everyone I shared it with absolutely loved it! I’m making another one right now
Alisha Trenalone
That's great! So glad you're enjoying it, thanks for letting us know!
-Alisha at Champagne Tastes