This delicious lemon pie has a creamy lemon filling and thick graham cracker crust. It’s an easy recipe is made with a few simple ingredients and tastes delicious with whipped cream on top. Perfect for lemon lovers! 
This lemon pie tastes like a cross between classic lemon bars and lemon cheesecake. It’s tangy, creamy and velvety smooth with a thick graham cracker crust. Best of all, the recipe only requires a few simple ingredients and is incredibly easy to make. I like to think of this recipe as the lemon cousin to key lime pie.
Making the Lemon Pie
For the Graham Crumb Crust
You’ll start off by making the crust. Combine the graham crumbs, a little sugar and melted butter – then press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of your pie plate. The crust will bake on it’s own first – which is key for a crunchy crust that holds together.
If you can’t find graham crackers/crumbs – digestive biscuits work too.
Pro Tip: Depending on how fine your graham crumbs are – you may need a little more or a little less butter. Add the butter slowly while stirring. Once it’s the consistency of damp sand, you’ve added enough.
For the Creamy Lemon Filling
The lemon filling is made with just 4 ingredients:
- cream cheese
- sweetened condensed milk
- egg yolks
- and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
As you may of noticed – the filling is very similar to classic key lime pie. I love the addition of just a little cream cheese because it helps balance out the sweetness of the condensed milk. It’s not enough cream cheese to make it a cheesecake though. You’ll whisk together all the ingredients, then pour it over the crust and pop it in the oven to bake.
Note: Use freshly squeezed lemon juice. Lemon juice from a bottle is way too sour for baking.
Baking Tips
- This recipe is designed for a 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate. If you only have an 8-inch pie plate, make the crust and filling as directed. However, only pour enough filling until almost the top of the crust is reached.
- Make sure the cream cheese and egg yolks are at room temperature before getting started.
- When the filling is done baking, it will look just set on top and still have a slight wobble (like jello in the middle). It will take about 30-35 minutes.
- This pie will need to cool slowly and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours for it to set properly. I typically make mine either the night before or the morning I plan to serve.
If you love this lemon pie recipe, be sure to try:
Creamy Lemon Pie
Equipment
- 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups graham crumbs*
- 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Filling
- 2 ounces full-fat cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 2 14 ounce cans sweetened condensed milk (two 395 gram cans)*
- 4 large egg yolks discard the whites
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F (160C) degrees.
Crust
- In a medium bowl, stir together the graham crumbs and sugar.
- Then stir in the melted butter a little at a time until it resembles damp sand. Depending on how finely crushed the graham crumbs are, you may need a little less or a little more butter.
- Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave the oven turned on.
Filling
- Either using a whisk or an electric mixer, whisk/beat the cream cheese until smooth and no lumps remain.
- Mix in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
- One at a time, whisk in the egg yolks.
- Carefully, whisk in the fresh lemon juice.
- Pour the filling into the baked crust and bake in the oven (still at 325F degrees) for 30-35 minutes, or until the top looks set and the pie has a slight wobble in the middle - similar to a bowl of jello.
- Cool the pie fully at room temperature, then place in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours before serving.
Notes
- You can either crush graham crackers in a food processor, or buy graham crumbs from the baking aisle. Graham crumbs can also be substituted with crushed digestive biscuits.
- Make sure to use sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk.
- Lemon juice from a bottle is too sour for baking. Make sure to use freshly squeezed lemon juice. For 1 cup lemon juice you'll need 4-5 large lemons or 6-7 small lemons.
- Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Nutrition information is an estimate only and based on 1 slice, assuming the pie is cut into 8 equal pieces.
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