No-bake lemon pie

23 July 2018    •    Cilantro Roots

Lemon 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋 pie!

I am working on the recipe for a vegan lemon pie to be further developed into a vegan lemon mousse pie. Today’s version of the lemon pie is made with a Graham cracker crust, filled with a cashew-based lemon custard, and topped with a thin layer of lemon-flavored gelatine (made with agar agar of course). Originally, I had placed the lemon slices evenly over the pie, but pouring the warm gelatine over the top of the pie made them float and create a new pattern! Lemons rule!

I took the pie to work to have my colleagues try it. They all liked it! Some of my American colleagues stated they perhaps would have liked it a tad sweeter. One of my Chinese colleagues would have liked more tang :).

The recipe for my vegan no-bake lemon pie has measurements in grams, ounces, and cups. Personally, I don’t like cup measurements because they are generally inaccurate, which can be a real problem with baking. The recipe can easily be made gluten free by using gluten-free graham crackers.

Ingredients:

Crust:
250 g/8.8 oz graham crackers or about 1/2 pack
75 g/2.6 oz or 3/4 stick vegan butter

Lemon custard:
150 g/5.3 oz cashews/about 1 cup, soaked for at least 8 hours
500 ml/2 cups water
Pinch of salt
200 g/7 oz/1 cup caster sugar
60 g/2.1 oz/ 1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tsp agar agar
Juice of 4 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons
Pinch of turmeric

Lemon gelatine:
70 gr/2.5 oz/just over 1/2 cup sugar
250 ml/1 cup water
1/2 tsp agar agar
1 tsp lemon extract
Yellow food color

Decoration:
1 lemon

Equipment & supplies:
Kitchen scale
23 cm/ 9 inch springform
Aluminium foil
High speed blender (I use a Nutri Ninja)
Food processor
Saucepan
Hand whisk

Preparation:
1) Line bottom of springform with aluminium foil. Lightly butter bottom and sides with a dash of vegan butter.
2) Add graham crackers to food processor and process until you have a fine crumb. Melt vegan butter, add to food processor, and press pulse a couple of time to incorporate melted butter into graham cracker crumbs.
3) Add crumb mixture to springform. Press down with a glass or with your hands. Set aside.
4) Add soaked cashews with 500 ml water to blender cup together with a pinch of salt. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into nonstick saucepan.
5) Add following custard ingredients also to nonstick saucepan: sugar, cornstarch, agar agar, juice of 4 lemons, zest of 2 lemons, pinch of turmeric. Use hand whisk to create a completely smooth mixture.
7) Bring to a gentle boil while stirring continuously and let the mixture boil for at least 2 minutes. Be careful that it doesn’t burn!
8) Check the lemon curd for color and add more turmeric as needed.
9) Pour lemon curd into springform and make the top as smooth as possible with a knife or spatula.
10) Place springform in freezer for 30 minutes.
11) Slice lemon in thin even slices. Put aside.
12) Start preparing lemon gelatine about 5 minutes before the springform can be taken out of the freezer. Add sugar, water, lemon extract, and agar agar to a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and let it boil for 2 minutes. Add food color until you get a nice bright shade of yellow but not fluorescent. Remove from stove.
13) Remove springform from freezer. Place lemon slices on top. Pour hot gelatine mixture over the lemon curd. The lemon slices will likely start to float to create their own pattern :).
14) Put springform back in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
15) Take springform out of freezer, cover with cling film, and put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

Happy vegan cooking and eating!