Gluten Free Lemon Pie

This gluten free lemon pie is good, tart and tangy, with a buttery, crisp cookie crust. You serve it chilled, so it is the proper make-ahead dessert.

After years of creating gluten-free recipes, I’ve perfected this simple filling to make sure it units right into a agency, creamy custard that slices cleanly each single time. And I am going to present you precisely serve these excellent slices with the crisp cookie crust fully intact.

Why this recipe works

• The filling is made with solely 3 elements, plus salt!
• Versatile recipe might be made with any sort of citrus juice, or a mixture.
• No sophisticated methodology for the crust or the filling; simply combine every in a single bowl, then bake.
• Parbake the crust in the suitable pan so every slice comes out of the pan cleanly.

Substances defined

There are so few elements on this recipe, so that they do a whole lot of work. Here is the aim of every:

• Gluten free cookie crust – The straightforward base of this pie, containing crunchy cookies with some sugar to assist it set extra firmly, and butter so as to add taste and maintain it collectively because it cools.
• Lemon juice – Offers all of the tangy taste and far of the moisture of the filling. Be sure you use the true stuff, not bottled. It ought to take about 6 lemons as soon as they’re strained of pulp.
• Sweetened condensed milk – Excessive in sugar, which gives all of the sweetness of the filling, some moisture, and all of the creaminess of the filling.
• Egg yolks – The egg yolk proteins break down within the oven and type a community of strands that units the custard filling. In addition they comprise lecithin, which prevents the custard from separating because it cools. The extra egg yolks, the firmer the custard.
• Salt – Brightens the tangy lemon taste of the juice, and balances the sweetness of the condensed milk.

🔄 Ingredient swaps and variations

Dairy free

Instead of sweetened condensed milk made with cow’s milk, use sweetened condensed coconut milk, which is bought in most bigger grocery shops.

Egg free

Instead of egg yolks to set the filling, strive a cornstarch slurry (2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 1/2 tablespoons lukewarm water) plus 1/4 cup (120 grams) room temperature bitter cream for texture.

Lemons

As an alternative of lemons, you should utilize orange juice and zest, key limes to make gluten free key lime pie, common limes, or a mixture of lemon and lime juice and zest. You could possibly even use ruby purple grapefruit juice for a grapefruit pie filling.

Cookie crust

You need to use any crunchy gluten free cookie as an alternative of graham crackers for the crust, like gluten free vanilla wafers or gluten free digestive biscuits (with out the chocolate topping). As an alternative of a cookie crust, you should utilize our recipe for gluten free shortcrust pastry. It is considerably richer than an everyday gluten free pie crust and a bit crumbly, which makes it excellent for a pie served chilly.

Skilled ideas for an ideal lemon pie

Select a pie pan with straight sides

In case your pie plate has sloped sides, once you attempt to parbake the cookie crust, it could sink down the perimeters towards the bottom of the pan.

Parbake the crust

Partially baking the cookie crust first helps the crust maintain collectively significantly better once you slice the pie and attempt to take away it from the pan. For those who’re utilizing a pan with sloped sides, although, skip parbaking the crust, and put together the pan by greasing it very properly, and lining it with a parchment spherical with tabs on either side like we do for our gluten free cookie cake.

Use fresh-squeezed, strained lemon juice

It is best to squeeze lemons recent for this pie and pressure the juice to take away all seeds and any pulp. There are some higher manufacturers of jarred lemon juice that you would be able to buy, however all of them have preservatives that give them a bitter style that baking right into a pie emphasizes.

How one can make gluten free lemon pie (step-by-step)

Comply with together with my directions under to see make this recent gluten free lemon pie in your personal kitchen.

1. Put together the graham cracker crust

To make a gluten free graham cracker crust, mix 8 ounces of gluten free graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar, and eight tablespoons (112 g) unsalted melted butter. Press the sandy combination into a good layer on the underside and up the perimeters of a 9 to 10 inch pie plate that is at the very least 1 1/4 inches deep.

Bake the crust in a 350°F oven for about 8 minutes, or till principally set. Let it cool at the very least 5 minutes earlier than filling it so the crust has an opportunity to set within the pan. Each steps will make slices of the totally stuffed and baked pie simpler to take away from the pan.

2. Make the filling

This filling is tremendous easy, with solely 4 elements: egg yolks, recent lemon juice, salt, and sweetened condensed milk. I like so as to add the lemon juice to the blending bowl first because it tends to splatter when you add the thicker elements first.

Beat every part collectively till the combination is creamy, easy, and has lightened barely in shade. It is best to do with a handheld or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, however you possibly can whisk it collectively by hand, too. Simply be certain your elements are all at room temperature or they will not mix correctly and you will have clumps within the filling.

3. Fill and bake the pie

Pour the filling into the parbaked and cooled crust. The small bubbles you see on the floor are nice, however bigger bubbles within the middle can create gaps and tunnels within the pie. Bang the pan firmly straight down on a flat floor just a few occasions to interrupt these bigger inner bubbles.

For a well-set pie filling, I want to bake the pie low and sluggish, at 325°F for about 25 minutes. It is carried out when it is a single, barely darker shade all the best way to the middle, and it jiggles in a managed, jello-like means once you shake the pan gently back and forth.

4. Cool, chill, and beautify

Let the pie cool fully to room temperature, nonetheless within the pan, which takes about 2 hour. Elevate the pan on a wire rack so air circulates all the best way round it.

Cowl the cooled pie with plastic wrap or tent with aluminum foil if the pie pan is simply too full and the plastic would contact the highest of the pie. Refrigerate for at the very least 3 hours, and ideally in a single day for the firmest filling that slices cleanly.

Embellish the entire pie or every particular person slice with lemon zest and whipped cream. For clear slices, slice with a pointy knife or serrated pie server in a single clear movement, wiping the sting clear after every reduce.

Run a straight edge like an offset spatula across the perimeter of the crust to assist free the crust from the sides earlier than eradicating the primary slice.

Storage directions

The entire pie, or particular person slices, will maintain properly within the fridge for about 5 days. Be sure you cowl it with out permitting something to the touch the highest of the pie or it would stick and wreck the graceful end.

For longer storage, freeze the pie or particular person slices uncovered for about 2 hours. Then, wrap tightly with freezer-safe wrap and return to the freezer for as much as 3 months. Defrost within the fridge in a single day. For those who defrost at room temperature, the skin will soften earlier than the within is unfrozen.

FAQs

What to do with leftover egg whites?

Do not waste the 6 egg whites you’ve gotten from separating the yolks. You’ll be able to freeze them to make use of later (defrost at room temperature first). Use them up in different nice recipes for every part from desserts to cookies and even bread: