Atlantic Beach Lemon Cream Pie is a delicious dessert with a salty crust and a sweet lemon filling. A combination that goes together perfectly!
Occasionally I get an email from my good friend Sherra and it begins with the words – Must Make! Then there is a link to a recipe. I know if it comes from Sherra and it starts with those two words I can pretty much be guaranteed it’s going to be a good one. So I usually do just what she says and I make it!
Pretty much right then and there!
This recipe came with a fun story. My friend found the recipe in the Our State: North Carolina online magazine. The story goes that in the 50’s in North Carolina they believed that if you ate dessert after a dinner of seafood you would die. Honest! The only exception to that though was lemon pie. Atlantic Beach Lemon Pie. I guess it has something to do with how lemon and fish go together.
I am pretty much lemons greatest fan but I have to say that the star of this dessert is not the lemon, it is the crust which is made out of saltine crackers.
The saltiness of the crust along with the sweetness of the filling is simply lovely! I guess the original pie recipe came with a meringue crust but this saltine crust is delicious! This version was developed by cookbook author Bill Smith. The salty cracker crusts helps make the pie not too sweet.
Just crush up the saltines, you don’t want them totally pulverized though. Combine the crumbs with some sugar and some softened butter and press into the bottom of a pie tin and back.
The filling is a combination of fresh lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk and eggs.
Once the crust cools a bit pour in the filling and then bake again. Refrigerate the pie until ready to serve.
I topped it with a bit of whipped cream and it was perfect! Some sweet and some salt, pretty much the perfect combination.
Pretty much the only thing you need to add at this point is a fork! Dig in!!
Other lovely lemonness:
Lemon Angel Pie – Lemon Sour Cream Pie –Frozen Lemon Dessert
- 1½ sleeves of saltine crackers
- ½ C softened unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 can 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup lemon juice
- Fresh whipped cream for garnish
- Preheat oven to 350˚.
- Crush the crackers finely, but not to dust.
- You can use a food processor or place in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush.
- Add the sugar, then knead in the butter until the crumbs hold together like dough.
- Press into an 8-inch pie pan. Chill for 15 minutes, then bake for 18 minutes or until the crust colors a little.
- While the crust is cooling (it doesn’t need to be cold), beat the egg into the milk, then beat in the lemon juice.
- Mix well.
- Pour into the shell and bake for 16 minutes until the filling has set. The pie needs to be completely cold to be sliced. Serve with fresh whipped cream
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You are cracking me up! Did I email that recipe to you about 3 or 4 days ago? And you whipped it up that fast?! Looks delicious and just when we thought you have tested every lemon recipe ever made! Now I just need you to get some dry ice and ship one to Atlanta!! 😉
I love a good salty-sweet combination – and this sounds so delicious! Pinned!
I have never seen it done with crackers. In the south it is called Lemon Iced box pie and it is a graham cracker crust and topped with a meringue or whipped cream. I will give this recipe a try with this new twist.
I absolutely love lemon desserts and when I saw that crumbly crust, I knew I had to make this! I will be making it this weekend! Don’t you just love crackers?! I can eat them right out of the sleeve with or without toppings! Love your recipes!
I too love lemon – and this sounds deeelish!
Oh my goodness, that crust.. it just looks sooo good! And the whipped cream… yummy!
Thanks Kayla – the combo of the salty crust and sweet filling is perfect.
I have been looking for this recipe ever since I heard the article on NPR the other week. Thanks for posting!
Enjoy it – it’s a good one!
Nancy, Hope you’ll give it a try and enjoy it as much as we did!
Hi, I was born & raised in NC. I have 2 remembrances of this pie. Our family vacations we went to Atlantic beach & to Myrtle bch; for dinner everyone there drove to the NC seafood houses to eat Fried shrimp. I fondly remember all the fish houses served this pie, This was in the late 50’s & 60’s, we called it Lemon ice box pie. It had a meringue topping though instead of whipped cream (same as lemon meringue pie). My Grandmother Crowe also made this pie, she was a Dynamite cook! She was one of the first FTD florists in NC. I remember she taught me how to make this pie once when I spent a week with her. I will Never Forget it because We were eating her “lemon cracker pie” (her name for it) watching TV when President Kennedy came on & told America about the Cuban Missle Crisis!!! Very Memorable indeed!
I just can hardly wait to try this pie! I cannot believe that I honesty feel like I have tried every sort of lemon dessert but have not come across this.I love the idea of cracker crust and I am just writing to make sure they are the slated crackers that you would use in this. Judging from the comments I have read, it is salted , so I am just going to go ahead and make this with them!
Carol, Yes it is a salted cracker. The salt and lemon combo is great!
I am making this pie right now and just wanted to double check the ingredients and I saw that you responded to my question so quickly! I am sure this pie is going to be a real treat, and love the simplicity of it all.I re-read the whole article of yours and I should have realized about the crackers before. I tend to rush at first with some recipes and this might not be a good idea at times.My crust just came out of oven and smells amazing!!!! Oh gosh I am anxious to try this pie!
I have a similar recipe, and I was leery of using 4 eggs-my recipe calls for yolks only. Checked around and this exact recipe is all over the place using only yolks. One comment made was using whole eggs made the crust soggy. Anyone have this experience?
My crust wasn’t soggy at all.
I LOVE this; wow! I make something similar. It has a arno short-bread biscuit base and mashed banana in it, but is other wise the same…Cheers