I think it’s official: I don’t like lemon shaker pie, and neither does Larry.
I’m positive this is a great version – the Baked crust is always phenomenal, and the recipe instructions to blanch (optional, but I did it) and sugar the lemons first does a good job of reducing the bitterness. The resulting filling is a cross between lemon curd and marmalade.
I have a glut of Meyer lemons right now – we have a tree, but I have several neighbors with trees as well, and they’re all prolific producers. No one seems to know what to do with them, so I go around liberating the lemons from everyone’s trees, and in return they get lots of homemade Meyer lemon curd. Meyers are a great choice for this pie – the skins are thin and fragrant, they taste wonderful, and there are very few seeds.
I wanted very thin lemon slices – paper thin. My mandoline didn’t cooperate (I think I need to replace the blade), but I have a steady hand and a very sharp knife. My lemons ended up macerating in sugar for three days, because I didn’t get to them when I was supposed to. Thinly sliced, sugared Meyer lemons are fantastic, and I was sure this was going to be a great pie.
The instructions say to remove the lemons from the sugar, reserving the sugar for later. If you’re imagining slightly damp but fragrant sugar as the byproduct, you’re not correct. The recipe should probably say to strain the lemons, reserving the sweet liquid that drains off.
This is a very quick pie to make, once the lemons are done and the pie crust is made. The filling is thickened with egg yolks and a bit of flour and then poured on top of the lemon slices. It’s a beautiful pie and the filling bakes up really nicely.
But we still didn’t like it. It’s that bit of leftover bitterness from the whole slices of lemon that prevent us from loving lemon shaker pie. If you like this kind of pie, though, I think this particular recipe is a winner.
For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.
- Lemon Shaker Pie (Baked Elements, p. 51)
Oh my goodness, I really liked this pie! I’m sorry you didn’t! Slicing the on the mandoline was a pain though; I didn’t like the labor-intensiveness. And I’m still trying to get past the chewy lemon in the filling. It’s… interesting. Regardless, your pie is beautiful. Good job! (and I envy you all those Meyer lemons…)
Too bad you didn’t enjoy this, Sheri – it looks perfect! I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding someone to eat it all up!
Hubby just tried a piece of this pie and he likes it, but wants it with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream…needs something to tone down the strong flavor. I think his brain has to like it because we grew the lemons? The real test for this pie is that my slice is gone, now Hubby has taken a slice, and no more slices are gone and this pie is 24 hours old. Not good. I agree with your post. I don’t think I’ll be making this one again, however, it was fun to do something new.
It would be much better with some vanilla ice cream. That would help balance the tartness.