Individual Lemon Ice Box “Pies”
Adapted and updated from Mrs. Harry C. Michael's Lemon Ice Box Pie appearing in The Women's Auxiliary of the Rosewood State Training School. Maryland's Famous Receipts. Owings Mills, MD. 1952
Ingredients
Crumb layer:
- 1 cup lemon-ginger cookie crumbs see recipe below or crushed gingersnaps
For the “filling”:
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 egg yolks
- ¾ cup lemon juice 2-3 small lemons’ worth
- pinch salt
- zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Sprinkle 3/4 of the crumbs in the bottom of 6 6-oz jars or ramekins. I re-used glass and clay jars from fancy yogurt. Set aside the remaining crumbs and the jars.
- Whisk together all the filling ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Whisk again until smooth.
- Scrape into a medium saucepan and whisk over medium heat until it thickens enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon. This takes about 10 minutes, when it is thick enough, you should start to see some slow, fat bubbles making their way to the top when you stop whisking.
- Whisk the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl. Evenly divide the mixture between the jars. Allow to cool slightly.
- Refrigerate at least 3 hrs. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs and serve.
Notes
If you need more than six servings, make the recipe twice, don’t double it for best results. There should be enough lemon-ginger cookies in one batch to make enough crumbs for both. You can even make this 1-2 days ahead of time, just add the top crumb layer at the last minute. If you really want to gild the lily, serve with whipped cream.