This week’s Lovely Lemon recipe is one that has been a favorite of mine for a long time – about 20 years! It combines two of my favorite things – lemons and a meringue crust!
I first had Lemon Angel Pie when my oldest, sweet college boy who is now 24 was only 4 years old! I was at a Preschool Board Meeting and the woman hosting the meeting served this as dessert. As soon as I took my first bite I knew I had to have the recipe.
Our family has been enjoying this as our favorite Easter dessert ever since. There is just something about Easter that says lemon to me! It just wouldn’t be Easter without our favorite lemon dessert – Lemon Angel Pie.
The great thing about this recipe is you can make it the day ahead – in fact you need to make it the day ahead thus making it a perfect dessert for Easter dinner! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
LA Notes: You will bake the meringue crust first – the recipe says to beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. I have NEVER in the 20 years I have made this been able to get the eggs to beat until stiff. It always ends up somewhat thick and shiny but definitely not stiff but that’s o.k – just pour it into the buttered pie pan and I promise it will be o.k. It will puff up beautifully.
The other thing – when you remove it from the oven – don’t worry when the beautiful, puffed-up, golden brown crust begins to crack and fall. It is suppose to do that.
Lemon Angel Pie
4 eggs, seperated
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups whipping cream.
Beat 4 egg whites, gradually add 1 cup sugar and cream of tartar. Beat until stiff, but not dry. Spread on bottom and sides of buttered 9 inch pie pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
Cool.
Take 4 egg yolks and beat slightly. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. lemon juice and 1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind, 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook until thickened in microwave for 4 minutes (stir every 30 seconds) Cool.
Whip 2 cups whipping cream and fold 1/2 of whip cream into lemon mixture. Pour into cooled meringue shell. Top with the remaining whip cream. Chill for 24 hours.
This looks delicious! I’ve been searching for the perfect Easter dessert – this just might be it!
Mom, I finally found your only flaw. You don’t know how old I am. I am 23 and will be turning 24 next month.
O.K. boy – so I was just rounding up! How did I get old enough to have a 23 or a 24 year old son!!!
Leigh Anne
This recipe looks great and I want to try making it for Easter. I have a question though–do you not put any sugar or flavoring in the whip cream that you use as a topping?
Nope – no sugar in the whip cream, just straight whipped cream. Enjoy!
Thanks Leigh Anne for answering my question so quickly. I can’t wait to try this.
Thanks so much for the recipe-I lost it in fire I had in my house- My old fiances mom made this for us 45 yrs ago!! I used to model and it was the only fattening thing I would eat-and then I had seconds and thirds-THEY KNEW it was my favorite-My daughter told me about your sight last week and I have been really enjoying it and trying the recipes and basking in lots of memories that resurfaced – Keep up the good work!! We adore you!!
Ah…sounds heavenly, yet another recipe to print and add to the list! My husband doesn’t like whipped cream and not much of a lemon fan, but I am..so making it for company is great as we can have another flavor of pie or ice cream for him.
Do you realize… how incredibly (and unintentionally) GLUTEN FREE this is? I’m totally making this for Easter dessert! AWESOME!
I had no idea but as I may soon heading down that gluten free road with one of my kids I am glad to know. This is my all time favorite dessert!!!
Oh no! Well.. not “oh, no!” but… “Thank GOD” and then a whole lot of patience. Do they think your kid is a celiac? If so… you’ll find that it’s genetic… ugh.
Best advice: look for things that are naturally gluten free because they always taste good. Then… email me and I’ll send you a whole bunch of good products/flour blends, etc.
Thanks so much. She has been having all kinds of stomach issues, has had the upper GI, radio active testing for Gallbladder, etc. and all come back normal. We are headed to a naturopath in a few weeks and hopefully he will help. He really helped a son of mine several years ago when there was a lot of food allergies involved. The tests she has had say she isn’t celiac but I know those aren’t always accurate. We may just try taking her off gluten to see if it helps. I’ll keep in touch – would love some ideas and recipes!!
HI
This is great! I need a gluten free recipe myself! I don’t know who Delta Whiskey is- but she mentioned some gluten free flour combos and recipes for cooking. I’m really looking for some baking options- I’m not sure if there is an easy way to get those passed along by chance? I’d really appreciate it. I don’t have Celiac disease- I have Crohn’s disease- and I’m sensitive to gluten, dairy, and some other things. ( I can do dairy in small, infrequent instances)- It will be worth it for this recipe!
Thanks!
I’m trying this recipe for our Easter dinner tomorrow. It’s always a scary idea to try a recipe for the first time when dining with others. I’m sure, though that it will be delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
I made mine today – I think it’s my all time favorite lemon dessert! Enjoy and Happy Easter
I decided late last night to make this for Easter dessert. I also made the strawberry spinach salad from this blog. It was very easy to make and I loved that the pie was a make ahead item. Very light and airy, loved the crunch of the meringue crust. One of our guests who doesn’t like lemon desserts decided he would have a piece after he saw it. Delicious! I know I will be making this again.
This dessert looks absolute yum and economical too. its not time consuming also to prepare. Could u plz tell me what sugar did u use. the normal fine granulated one or castor sugar. Thanx for sharing the recipe. uv got an amazing blog too and im sure and am excited to learn a lot from u.
regular granulated sugar
Hello fellow Etsyan…
This looks luscious…I like the idea of meringue on the bottom instead of a pie crust – bet it adds a nice crunch like a macaron cookie. I was going to make banana bread today but found this instead – your picture made me salivate…
thanks…
Oh. My. Goodness.
My husband is going to go off his nut when I make him this!
I’ve never seen anything like this (not here in NZ anyway) and that first photo with it half eaten on the plate is making me positively salivate!
Off to Mum’s house to raid the lemon tree now…
Michelle recently posted..Amplified Creatine 189 updated Wed Aug 24 2011 2:44 am CDT
Enjoy! This is my favorite dessert ever!
Leigh Anne, I finally made this dessert for Thanksgiving. It was truly divine! This baby is a keeper. Thank you for sharing.
One of my all time favorite desserts! So glad you enjoyed it.
when I looked at this recipe my mouth started to water…OMGosh this looks lovely!!