This Easy 4-Ingredient Lemon Cream Pie Is Heavenly

Photo byBeyond Frosting

This lemon cream pie has a luscious, tangy, cloud-like filling that contrasts beautifully with the crunchy graham cracker crust. There's something about lemon pie that is so cool and refreshing, which makes it the perfect summer dessert.

Aside from the taste, I love this recipe because it's easy, inexpensive and only takes about 15 minutes to prepare. You need just four ingredients: lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, heavy whipping cream and a premade graham cracker crust. For a more authentic flavor, the juice from 2-3 lemons should give you the 6 tablespoons the recipe calls for. In a pinch, bottled lemon juice also works. Best of all: you don't need to use the oven at all. Just pour the filling into the pie shell and let it set in the refrigerator.

While the recipe calls for a premade graham cracker crust, you can substitute your own homemade crust or a buy a premade traditional pastry crust for a more neutral flavor. Or add more sweetness with a Nilla-Wafer crust, which works great with the tart lemon filling.

Lemon Cream Pie

Ingredients

6 tablespoons lemon juice

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 (9-inch) premade graham cracker pie crust

2 teaspoons lemon zest (optional)

Instructions

1. Whisk together lemon juice, zest and condensed milk in a large mixing bowl. Lemon juice should be fully incorporated into the condensed milk. Set aside.

2. Using a hand-held or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy whipping cream in a separate bowl on high speed until stiff peaks form.

3. Gently fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture, about a third at a time. Ingredients should be fully combined but don't overmix.

4. Pour filling into the graham cracker crust and smooth out the top using a spatula. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

5. Garnish with lemon zest, sliced lemons and whipped cream (optional).

Notes

If you want to speed things up, freeze the pie for a couple of hours and let it thaw about 15 minutes before cutting.

The only thing to be aware of with this recipe is that you don't want to mix the whipped cream and the condensed milk any more than you need to so the filling has a light, airy texture.

To make a Nilla Wafer crust: Mix 6 tablespoons melted butter with 2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 27 wafers) and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Pour mixture into a 9-inch pie plate and press up the sides to form the edges first. Evenly distribute mixture across the the bottom of the plate and press down with a flat-bottomed cup. Freeze pie crust about 20 minutes before adding the filling.