We love Lemon Sour Cream Pie, but it was almost a different recipe.
The chaos of the kitchen during a Pie Night prep night took over and we bonked a recipe! Yep, and the next step was thinking, great, time for the garbage disposal or into the trash bin. So sad. Well, at the very last moment before I sent the destroyed filling to the dismal sewage pipes of the underworld; BAM! A light turned on! An idea for a “fix” that just might save the pie popped in my head. Hence, the new and improved Lemon Sour Cream Pie was born! A truly happy accident!
We loved our original creamy lemon sour cream pie, but the new version is by far superior. I can only take credit for half of the creation of this lemony goodness; it was a combined effort with my daughter. (She is the spirit of our annual pie night, which is another story). Regardless of how we bake differently; we are both here to tell the pie tales. So we humbly bow and share our Lemon Sour Cream Pie creation.
The change we made was adding a small amount of cream cheese with the sour cream in the filling. It was just enough to stabilize the extra egg whites we had accidentally added. The cream cheese enhanced the zesty sour cream flavor and the filling tasted a little more elegant. So dang good.
For the crust I used lemon sandwich cookies instead of graham. Graham is great, but do yourself a favor and try the lemon cookies. Follow this link for making Sandwich Cookie Crusts.
All I can say is, wow, this lemon-zested beauty really came to life. If you love lemon this is definitely your jam.
Make sure and save the last slice for yourself! I had to guard mine as the hubby was eating it for breakfast too, nothing is safe in my fridge.
Lemon Sour Cream Pie
Ingredients
Lemon Sour Cream Filling
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 3 eggs, beaten (and poured through sieve)
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter, cubed
- 4 ounces cream cheese (half of one 8-ounce brick)
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- One prepared graham cracker crust (see notes below to make this gluten free)
Topping/Garnish
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered pure cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Lemon curls, yellow nonpareils (jimmies), lemon zest, or candied lemon peels for garnish
Graham Cracker Crust – 9-inch
- 1-1/2 cups cups graham cracker crumbs
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup pure cane granulated sugar
Instructions
Filling
- Combine sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, strained eggs and milk in heavy saucepan.
- Cook and stir with a whisk over medium to medium-high heat until thickened, about 11 to 12 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in cubed butter, stirring until it is melted. Pour lemon filling into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap pushed onto the surface to prevent a skin forming. Place in refrigerator until thoroughly cooled (about 2-3 hours).
- Once cooled, use an electric mixer (I like KitchenAid) beat the cream cheese to ensure there are no cream cheese lumps.
- Add and beat in sour cream, and then add the cooled lemon filling, and whip together with mixer for a couple of minutes.
- Spread into prepared crust. Pipe whipped cream around edges of pie & garnish with sprinkles, lemon zest or lemon curls.
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Mix graham cracker crumbs & sugar together with a fork. Stir in melted butter until thoroughly mixed & press into pie plate.
- Bake 6 minutes. Cool completely before adding fillings.
Whipped Topping
- In a large bowl use an electric mixer to whip the powder sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream. Beat on high until stiff peaks form (about 7-8 minutes).
- Serve with cooled pie.
Oh boy! Perfect for our hot summer weekend!!