summer lemon pie

Hi! It's summer. As in, 95 degrees all week summer. I've been craving a delicious sweet cold dessert that's not a Popsicle. I saw this recipe in a magazine and promptly tore it out. I know I saw this all the time, but this is seriously so easy. Three steps, six ingredients, and wow is it good.

First you make a 'graham cracker' crust with smashed up cookies and butter. I use Mi-Del arrowroot cookies, they taste like animal crackers and are something like $3 a bag. That bakes for 10  minutes, then you pour in a 'custard' you've made from sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and lemon juice. Once that's cooled, you make whipped cream from heavy cream and a little bit of leftover sweetened condensed milk, and ta-da! A really fancy looking pie. 

Cold lemon cream pie

Recipe from June-July 2013 Cook's Country Magazine

One bag of smashed up gf cookies (about two cups, I use a bag of Mi-Del arrowroot)
4 T melted butter
two 14 ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup plus 2 T lemon juice (I used bottled because come on, its 95 degrees out)
16 ounces of heavy cream
optional - vanilla or triple sec for the whipped cream

Preheat your oven to 325. Mix your smashed cookies with the butter and dump into a pie plate. Tear off a piece of plastic wrap the same sie approx as your pie plate, lay the plastic over the cookies, and smash them  into the shape of a pie crust. Bake the cookie crust for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. In a medium bowl, mix together the lemon juice, egg yolk, and most of the sweetened condensed milk - save a few tablespoons to use in the whipped cream. When your milk-lemon-egg mixture is all mixed up, pour it into the waiting crust and bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely (you can speed this up by sticking the slightly cooled pie in the fridge). When the pie is cool, make the whipped cream by dumping the cream, a few tablespoons of leftover sweetened condensed milk, and maybe a splash or two of vanilla or triple sec into the bowl of a mixer. Beat for a few minutes until the cream mix turns into whipped cream. Spread all the whipped cream over the pie and serve to your impressed guests or husband.