Christmas Shaker Lemon Pie

Lemon slices macerating

As I previously mentioned, I had an absolutely amazing slice of Shaker lemon pie at Scratch in Durham, North Carolina, so I wanted to try to make it for my family's Christmas dinner at my parent's house in Indiana. I found this recipe from smitten kitchen, and stuck to it fairly closely. Here it is:

Shaker Lemon Pie
adapted from smitten kitchen

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House double-crust pie dough (recipe at right)
2 large lemons, preferably Meyers
2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs
4 Tblsp. melted butter
3 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
1 egg white
Turbinado sugar

Directions

1. Wash and dry lemons. Finely grate lemon zest into a bowl. Slice lemons as paper thin as you can get them; removing seeds. Add slices to zest and toss with sugar and salt. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out half the dough and fit it into a 9-inch greased and floured pie plate. Mix the macerated lemon-sugar mixture with eggs, melted butter and flour until combined. Pour in to prepared pie shell.

3. Roll out the remaining dough, drape it over the filling, and flute the edge decoratively. Beat one egg white until frothy and brush over pie crust, then sprinkle with sugar. Cut vents in the crust and bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F. and bake the pie for 20-25 minutes more, or until the crust is golden. Let the pie cool on a rack and serve at room temperature with a dollop of honey-whipped cream.

Pie pre-baking. My grandma added the lemon crust design!

I ended up forgetting to macerate the lemons overnight, so they only sat for a few hours. This ended up being fine, but I think the rind would be softer if they had sat for the prescribed 24 hours. I also didn't have a mandoline, so my lemon slices were a little thick. This was also okay, but I think the thinner you can get them, the better.

Gracing the Christmas table

My family really loved this pie (as did I!) and called it a new favorite! It also was a great unexpected companion to the chocolate cake made by my aunt.

A wee slice with a dollop of honey whipped cream!

I hope you had lovely holidays, with plenty of delicious pies baked and shared with loved ones!