Our family has never, ever been one to regularly go 'out' to eat. Going to a restaurant or even getting fast food and bringing it home was a special treat reserved for birthdays and anniversaries or a 'once in a great while' thing. It's just never been a priority for us and seems more of a hassle to go 'out' than stay in. (And this is long before Covid fears were a thing.)
But when the kids were little we lived near a restaurant that was known for their pies and after having a slice of their lemon pie during one of our meals 'out', I was smitten.
I started to make it at home. Now we didn't start doing sugar free and low carb until the Spring of 2003 and even then, with 3 young children and no health issues that made LC and SF a requirement; I used to make this pie the traditional way with a flour based crust and sugar in the fillings and whipped cream. There are also were very few options available for low carb and sugar free baking and cooking back then so when I made the pie in the early days it was this one:
My original version (posted in 2009)
1 store bought or homemade baked pastry crust
1 1/2 c sugar
6 T cornstarch
1/2 t salt
1 c water
2 T real butter
2 t grated lemon peel or 1 t dried
2/3 c lemon juice
12 oz. cream cheese
3/4 c powdered sugar
3/4 c heavy cream, whipped
1 T lemon juice or 1/2 t vanilla
Combine
the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan on the stove. Stir in the
water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and cook
and stir for about 2 minutes until smooth. It should be thick and
clear. Remove from heat, stir in the butter, lemon peel and lemon
juice. I like to add 2 drops of yellow food color to the curd at this
point to give it a nice yellow color. Cool to room temperature (about
an hour). In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese (softened) and
powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream and
lemon juice or use the vanilla - I make it both ways. Save about 1/2 -
3/4 cup of the whipped cream for garnish. Spread the rest into the
baked and cooled pie crust shell. Top with the lemon filling. Chill at
least 6-8 hours. Pipe stars on the top with the reserved whipped
cream.
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FAST FORWARD to low carb and sugar free days...
Just recently I posted my recipe for an old fashioned chocolate fudge pie in which I said of the crusts; "if you are going to make one... make two!" and save it for a future dessert. That was in this post.
I made a simple almond flour pie crust using 1 1/4 almond flour, 1/4
c zero carb vanilla whey protein powder, 1/4 t salt, 1/3 c sweetener
and about 1/4 plus 1 T melted butter; mix in bowl until it comes
together and press into a glass or non-stick pie tin. Pre-bake about 12 minutes or until gold brown at 350 degrees. Let cool completely before either using or tucking away into the freezer for a future recipe.
I used that one because I already had it made and in the freezer; but I really love my other pie crust for this pie as well; If you want more of a traditional crust I have another favorite pie crust post here: pie crust.
My lower carb version
1 pre baked pie crust (just above)
1 1/2 c natural sweeteners
6 T cornstarch
1/2 t salt
1 c water
2 T real butter
2 t grated lemon peel or 1 t dried
2/3 c fresh lemon juice
12 oz. cream cheese
3/4 c powdered sweeteners
3/4 c heavy cream, whipped
1 T lemon juice or 1/2 t vanilla
Combine
the sweetener, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan on the stove. Stir in the
water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and cook
and stir for about 2 minutes until smooth. It should be thick and
clear.
Remove from heat, stir in the butter, lemon peel and lemon
juice. Cool to room temperature (about
an hour). In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese (softened) and
powdered sweetener and beat until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream and
lemon juice or use the vanilla - I make it both ways. Save about 1/2 -
3/4 cup of the whipped cream for garnish. Spread the rest into the
baked and cooled pie crust shell. Top with the lemon filling. Chill at
least 6-8 hours. Pipe stars on the top with the reserved whipped
cream.
I took the pre-made crust out of the freezer and let it set on the counter while I made the rest of the pie
Mmmm.... the whipped cream and cream cheese part of the recipe
Spread the whipped cream and cream cheese layer on the crust
Topped with the lemon filling and then the reserved whipped cream either dolloped on top, spread on top or pipe some whipped cream stars on top.
Fresh lemon juice gives this pie a lovely bright flavor but of course you can use bottled lemon juice as well.
**Note: For people who don't love lemon
My husband does not love lemon like I do so when I bake lemon goods I either have to be sure to make them when others are at the house to help eat it or I end up putting 3/4 of it in the freezer and taking some out 'here and there' when I want it. But when it comes to this pie I often do something else.
This pie and the cream cheese whipped cream filling is the same that I use for my 'cherry pie' that everyone that has ever had it loves. But to make it sugar free I either have to make my own cherry pie filling or sometimes I buy the 'no sugar added' version in the store when I can find it. It's gotten harder and hard to find though so I haven't picked any up to keep in the pantry lately.
When you make this pie you can put the first layer down and then use half the lemon curd for filling and fill the other half with the cherry pie filling.
This time, I had cranberries and blueberries in the freezer so I whipped up a sugar free filling using the both of them. I lifted off the lemon filling from the center of the pie, filled with the sugar free cranberry blueberry filling and served it that day as a 'new' pie. The lemon filling is under the whipped cream stars only; while the berry filling is over the rest.
Since I love pie crust, lemon and whipped cream, I enjoyed the edges, while my fruit filling loving husband loved the center.
It was a win/win situation.
I didn't take a photo of the filling by itself but I had taken a video and posted it on my Instagram account so I screenshot a quick photo from it. Blurry, but you can see it in the making. It's basically a sugar free cranberry sauce recipe with blueberries for part of the cranberries.