Today I'm making a North Carolina Lemon Pie with a Saltine Crust I saw made on Cook's Country TV program. It sounded interesting to me as I've never considered making a pie crust from saltine crackers. It's in the oven now ~ I'll report about the taste later. Since I don't own a 'food processor' I had to improvise with the old method of crushing the saltine crackers in a zip bag with my rolling pin and it was an easy enough task. The crumbs, when mixed with melted butter and Karo Syrup (light corn syrup) were a bit daunting to get pressed into an even layer in the pie plate but ended up looking even when baked.
It's nice you don't have to wait for the crust to cool before pouring in the filling and baking that for 15 minutes or so. And the filling was just a 'stir together' filling so I didn't have to get a mixer out for anything.
Here's the recipe as copied from some blogger:
Lemon Pie ~ North Carolina Lemon Pie w/Saltine Crust
Ingredients
• Crust
• 6 oz saltine crackers (about 53 crackers - or 1 1/2 sleeves)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 10 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/4 C light corn syrup
• Filling
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 1/2 C fresh lemon juice (about 3 medium lemons)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Topping
• 1/2 C heavy cream, chilled
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Crust: Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease (or spray) a 9" glass pie plate.
2. Combine the saltines and salt in a food processor and pulse to coarse crumbs, about 15 pulses. Add the melted butter and corn syrup and pulse about 15 more times, until the crumbs are broken down into oatmeal-sized pieces.
3. Pour the saltine mixture into the prepared pie plate. Using the bottom of a dry measuring 1/2 cup, press the crumbs into an even layer on the bottom and sides of the plate, using your fingers to keep the crumbs in as you're pressing the crumbs. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake until light golden brown, 17 minutes. Remove from oven.
4. Filling: While the crust bakes, whisk the condensed milk, egg yolks, cream, lemon zest and salt into a medium bowl until fully combined. Whisk in the lemon juice (it will thicken a bit at this point) until fully combined.
5. Keep the pie crust on the baking sheet and pour the filling into the crust (crust doesn't need to be cool).
6. Bake the pie (still at 350°) until edges are beginning to set but the center still jiggles just a bit when shaken, 15 to 17 minutes. It will firm up a little after it's taken from the oven and cooling. Cool completely on a wire rack, then place in the refrigerator until fully chilled, about 3-4 hours.
7. Topping: In a medium bowl (or stand mixer), whisk and whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla on medium-low speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, 1-2 minutes. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the top of the pie. Garnish with thin lemon slices if desired.
Notes ~ Tips and Stuff:
I wrote the recipe exactly as I made the pie and the ingredient amounts are exactly what Cook's Country called for. Next time I will make some minor changes:
Since I use salted butter, I will omit the salt from the crust. Also, on the crust, I will lower the amount of saltines to 5 oz (and only 9 tbsp melted butter) as I thought the crust was a bit thick on the bottom.
Next time, I will double the topping since we like a thicker layer of whipped cream.
Home
Now, what's for dinner tomorrow????? 
