I found some short-dated cream on sale and got excited about the chance to make another lemon dessert. As usual, it's not particularly budget friendly, despite coming from the Budget Byte$ blog and even with the assumption of free lemons. Beth figured it would cost just over $4 to make this pie. With lemons accounting for just over $1.50 of that cost. I figured it costs just over $9 to make here (assuming full-price cream, but zero-cost lemons). So, I mean, I guess it's still pretty good when compared to the cost of buying a dessert at a bakery or restaurant, I'm just always a bit shocked at the delta between her prices and ours.

Lemon Cream Pie

Slightly adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 c. vanilla wafer crumbs
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 90g butter, melted

Filling

• 1 can (~400mL) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250-300mL heavy (35%) cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter and mix well.
3. Press into a 23cm (9") pie plate.
4. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. Combine the sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
7. Whip the cream.
8. Stir about half of the cream into the lemon mixture, then fold in the remaining cream.
9. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust, cover, and chill until set (~2 hours).