Lemon Spice Pie

Say « lemon spice pie » three times fast.
 
It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It can only be super delicious.
 
I’ve really missed sharing recipes on my blog, so I am beyond thrilled to be posting this one. For the past few months, I’ve been working on pies and on mastering the art of pie making. That was no small feat, and my first few attempts frankly weren’t successful. Once I got the basics down (finally!), I set out to create my own pie recipe. Since it is the end of winter, citruses are in season and I happened to have a couple of lemons lying in my refrigerator. I am a massive fan of lemon desserts, so making a pie with a lemon flavored filling was a no brainer. Furthermore, my boyfriend spent the whole of winter drinking lemon-ginger tea and it inspired me to use this flavor combination – which is an all time classic. I debated on a few different combinations, but I ended up settling on a lemon filling with a gingerbread crust. Since the crust isn’t too sweet, I wanted the filling to stay light and airy, and what could be lighter than a mousse? In the end, I came up with this amazingly light Lemon Spice Pie. Perfect for the end of winter when you can feel that spring is trying to make an appearance, but there’s still time for festive flavors like gingerbread.

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Extra tips:

• When whisking the lemon curd on the stove, you want to whisk vigorously and continually until the mixture becomes thick and adheres to the back of a spoon. It shouldn’t ever be boiling. This takes approximately 10 minutes.
• You can keep the curd in the fridge for over 1 week.
• This pie doesn’t have crust on the sides, so you want to use 1) a tart pan (with straight sides) as opposed to a pie pan (with angled sides), and 2) a pan with a removable bottom so that you’re able to get to the crust without messing up the delicate sides.
• I used maple syrup in the pie crust for two reasons: to help the crust hold together since it is very light, and to make it sweeter. Feel free to add honey or agave syrup if you prefer.
• When folding in the lemon curd, avoid playing around with the mixture too much. Use slow and precise motions to preserve the mousse texture.
• Covering the pie with a plastic wrap will keep a thin crusty layer from forming on top. To avoid messing up the top of the pie, don’t move the plastic wrap around or press it down.
  

This recipe can be quite time consuming to make because each component needs to cool, as well as the assembled pie. For that reason, I like to make the curd ahead and have it chill in the fridge for when I’m ready to use it. You can also make the pie early in the morning and it’ll be ready to eat at night. I promise, all this time spent waiting by the fridge will be 100% worth it. This pie is light, not too sweet and totally addicting.

If you end recreating this recipe, tag me in your pictures and use the hashtag #teaandmascara. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Happy baking!

Much love,