Shakers lemon pie

When life gives you lemons... Make pie. 

This is so relevant and perfect, I cannot believe I didn't notice it sooner. I've realized when I'm down or stressed, baking is always the perfect medicine. Lately I've been pretty down in regards to my employment situation and it only got worse this weekend. So as always, I turned to baking to cheer me up.

Ironically enough, I made a lemon pie! And you know what they say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Or pie in my case.

This week, I decided to try something different, I'm totally a fruit pie kind of gal - peach, blackberry, apple... you name it, I love it!! However, this time I went outside the box and tried a lemon pie. I know it's not so outside the box... lemon meringue pie is a pretty classic pie. However, for me it is! Also, I didn't make the class meringue pie, I'm still a bit nervous to attempt the meringue. Instead, I went for what's known as the Shaker Lemon Pie, something I had never heard of....

What's special about this pie is that you use the whole lemon, even the lemon peels! The shakers didn't want to waste anything - and neither do I! However, I will say either I didn't not slice the lemons thin enough or I prefer to take the peel out!

The paper-thin slices (preferably meyer lemons!) is what defines this pie. However, as some bloggers have noted, unless you're a sous-chef, it's quite difficult! Then you take those thinly sliced lemons and macerate them in sugar for quite a bit (the longer you can wait, the better!) Then, you will mix them with eggs to form a tart, deliciously bitter pie filling, part marmelade and part curd. 

Recipe:

2 large lemons, preferably Meyers

2 cups of sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 eggs

4 tbsp butter, melted

3 tbsp all purpose flour

1 egg white

coarse sugar, for sprinkling

dough for 1 double pie crust

***my go to pie gal is smittenkitchen!***

A couple notes for how I messed up/what I'd do differently: 

- Cut the slices thinner! If not thin enough, discard before baking!

- The directions were a bit confusing on what to do with the eggs- beat them before incorporating? - not so sure. 

- I forgot the egg white and coarse sugar to make perfect the delicious and beautiful pie crust!!!