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A light and tart no-bake lemon pie with a coconut crust that’s perfect for summer–or any time.
Easy As Lemon Pie
Lemon is one of my favorite flavors especially when the bright citrusy taste remains a bit tart. I’m not talking pucker-up sour, just a hint of tangy tartness. This recipe delivers that taste and then some.
The good news with this lemon pie is that it can be made super rich, lower calorie or somewhere in the middle. I’m pretty much a middle-of-the-road type of character, so I opted for the middling version.
The rich version requires an additional step, but if you’re into “from scratch” you may prefer to take that extra step.
Pie Simplified
This lemon pie has only 4 main ingredients. The original recipe called for a commercially prepared crust. If time is of the essence, then it’s fine to go with that.
However, I chose to make my own crust because I wanted a more interesting flavor–coconut. So I used some coconut cookies and I used the cheap kind you can buy in the dollar stores. You could also use a variety higher up the quality chain although the dollar store variety tasted pretty good. I also substituted part of the butter called for in cookie crusts with unrefined coconut oil–that’s the one that smells like coconut–because it added a bit more coconut flavor. I love coconut to excess, but if you don’t and want to make your own crust, you can use graham crackers, vanilla wafers or shortbread cookies in place of the coconut ones.
Tailor To Your Taste
As I mentioned before, this pie can be tailored to your taste and dietary needs. I don’t think a diabetic version could be done since you cannot escape the sugar in one ingredient: the condensed milk. So there can’t be a sugar-free way to do this.
If you prefer to make a from-scratch filling or a richer version, just substitute real sweetened whipped cream.
A reduced-calorie version may be made with lower-fat versions of some ingredients. Personally, I don’t think the caloric savings would be that significant, but that’s not my call.
The Recipe
No-Bake Lemon Coconut Pie
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 1/2 cups coconut cookie crumbs
- 4 oz butter melted
- Filling:
- 1 can 14 oz. condensed milk
- 1/2 cup (about 3 medium lemonfresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp grated lemon peel
- 2 cups frozen whipped topping thawed
Instructions
- For crust, mix ingredients together in a small bowl until all the cookie crumbs are coated with butter. Press into a 9-inch deep pie dish.
- Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and peel in small mixer bowl until combined. Fold in whipped topping; pour into crust. Cover; refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Garnish with lemon peel
Claudia Lamascolo says
omg I am in love with this pie and recipe, this will be a big hit here love it!
Judith Hanneman says
It was really good too!!!
Mary says
Could you use whipped cream in place of the whipped topping?
Judith Hanneman says
Yes, it’s mentioned in the post and the recipe.