A better-than-the-box lemon icebox pie

By Judy Haubert

Last summer, my client's teenage daughter went through a lemon phase and, as their private chef, I could barely make enough lemony desserts to keep up with her interest.

I was desperately searching for new ideas when I stumbled upon a package of dairy-free whipped topping that promoted a recipe for lemon pie using frozen lemonade concentrate and a purchased graham cracker crust. 

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It turned out surprisingly well, but I felt more than a little guilty using such blatant store-bought shortcuts. After all, I was being paid for my cooking prowess, and the recipe required none.

I figured there was a more authentic approach to such a crowd pleaser, and ultimately couldn't abide the sight of serving anything in that purchased foil pie tin.

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A whole year passed before I got around to updating the recipe, replacing the frozen non-dairy topping with real whipped cream, and making my own lemon simple syrup as a stand-in for the lemonade.

The store-bought graham crust was usurped by a self-assembled one using vanilla shortbread, and the addition of homemade candied lemon peel scattered over the top of the pie elevated this dessert into company status. 

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I made the new version for my client's daughter recently, the creamy slices of lemon mousse melting into crisp golden crust on a twilit late-summer evening.

The back-of-the-box version from the summer before hadn't given rise to such oohs and ahhs before digging in; the extra time and effort was worth it.



See the recipe for Lemon Icebox Pie »