Sweet pies are pretty darn American. They make me think of a southern belle popping round to a neighbours house clutching a fresh bake. There’s something warming and comforting about them, even if this particular pie is served cold! My lemon cream gingernut pie is delicious (if I do say so myself!). Its lusciously creamy, perfectly tangy and has a delightfully crunchy biscuit base.
Lemon is one of my favourite flavours to bake with. I love how sharp and tangy it is, and how it can cut through the sweetness of a bake. The filling is really smooth and creamy, so having a strong citrus flavour doesn’t make it too sickly. This paired with the spicy gingernut base, really is a match made in heaven.
This is a twice-baked pie. Meaning that the base is baked first, before the filling is then baked on top. I wouldn’t usually bake a biscuit base, but the bake gives it a really sound structure that helps when cutting slices. The filling is then baked on top, just until set. Its a bit like a baked cheesecake here, where you want to watch until the middle of the pie is just firmed up and doesn’t have any wobble. If you do get any brown spots where the mixture has caught on the hot spots in your oven, never fear! The whipped cream conveniently hides any blemishes!
I’m not a huge fan of whipped cream, and don’t even get me started on squirty cream from a can! But the addition of a little icing sugar and a splash of vanilla extract really makes this cream delicious. The fresh cream means the pie must be kept refrigerated, and also makes the pie even more delicious in my opinion. After a hot winter meal, I find a cold dessert so refreshing. Despite the condensed milk, biscuits and cream this pie is really light, promise!
Pie is one of my favourite things to create and I definitely think its an underrated dessert over here in the UK. On the blog already I’ve made a classic cherry pie and a chocolate peanut butter pie (which has a creamy consistency similar to the lemon gingernut!). My next mission is to practise interesting lattice work, so expect another fruit pie soon.
I hope you enjoy this pie as much as I did!
Lemon Cream Gingernut Pie
Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 200 g gingernut biscuits
- 55 g caster sugar
- 65 g butter melted
Filling
- 2 large eggs
- 397 g condensed milk 1 can
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 120 ml lemon juice approx. 3 large lemons
- 1/2 tsp salt
Topping
- 250 ml double cream
- 50 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the base: Firstly, preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Then cut two strips of baking parchment and place in a cross shape inside a 9-inch pie dish (or shallow cake tin), ensuring they overhang the edges of the dish. This will help you in removing the pie from the tin after baking.
- Then in a food processor, blitz the biscuits until they are fine crumbs. Add the sugar and melted butter and blitz again until the mixture comes together.
- Tip this into your prepared pie dish and with the back of a spoon evenly press the mixture down and up the sides. Then bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
- For the filling: In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt until well incorporated. Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust and bake for 15 minutes until just set in the centre. Leave this to cool to room temperature.
- For the topping: In a medium bowl whip together the double cream and icing sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Add in the vanilla extract, and then spread this on top of the pie.
- Add lemon slices for decoration if you want to be fancy, and then refrigerate for a few hours. You can tuck in straight away, but it holds much better after being chilled.
