22-05-2025
This lemon icebox pie is a refreshing summer sweet treat for potlucks, picnics
In warm Southern climates, nothing was more refreshing than a cool lemon pie in the fridge. It was that classic pie you'd make ahead with eggs, sweetened condensed milk and lemons, chill, and take to church. Originally a 1930s French Creole recipe out of New Orleans, it was the pie once there was refrigeration.
That pie would travel to Denver, which is where Adrian Miller's mother baked it for her church gatherings. Johnetta Solomon Miller was born and in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and raised on lemon icebox pie.
And so after she moved west and joined Denver's Campbell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (which he has jokingly said stands for ''always meet and eat''), she made this sweet confection of tangy lemon filling on top of crushed vanilla wafers for church potlucks and other gatherings. It closely resembled the recipe on the back of the Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk can.
Lemon icebox pie was nothing without canned milk.
And canned milk saved many a small town cook in the South because it could rest on the pantry shelf and not need refrigeration. In fact, it was born because Gail Borden, a newspaperman and surveyor, was returning from a trip to England in 1851 when he saw children dying on his ship after they were fed milk from diseased cows on board.
Borden had moved south to Liberty, Mississippi, and later, Texas, for health reasons and a warmer climate. His wife and children died of yellow fever in 1844 and 1845, and afterwards, Gail Borden focused on making food safer to eat.
As it turned out, the sugar in Borden's mixture helped soak up the water in the milk and inhibited the growth of bacteria. The concoction was a yellowish, sweet, thick milk and at first it didn't sell. But the U.S. government purchased it as rations for the Union Army during the Civil War, and after the war, production took off.
In some places in the South, without central air conditioning — the 1950s and '60s for sure, but I recall a hot Atlanta apartment in the 1970s! — people didn't turn on their ovens to bake. I remember when aluminum ice cube trays that came with refrigerators often did double-duty and were filled with frozen icebox pies.
Johnetta Miller and a lot of good Southern cooks have known the refreshing quality of a summer lemon icebox pie. Hope you enjoy this recipe from my book, "Baking in the American South."
Makes: 8 servings
Prep and Cook: 30 to 35 minutes
Bake: 20 to 27 minutes for crust and meringue
Chill: At least 4 hours
For the Vanilla Wafer Crust:
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter
58 Vanilla Wafer or thin ginger cookies or 12 whole graham crackers (1 1/2 cups crumbs)
For the filling:
4 large eggs
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
4 to 5 medium lemons
1/2 cup sugar
Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make the crust: Place the butter in a small saucepan over low heat to melt. Break the cookies or crackers into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until crumbs, 10 to 15 seconds. (You can also smash the crumbs using a large Ziploc bag and rolling pin and mix the crust in a large bowl.)
Pour the melted butter into the processor and pulse 6 to 8 times so the ingredients pull together. Press the crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan, or a 1 1/2-quart casserole.
Make the filling: Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a large bowl for the meringue and the yolks in a large bowl. Pour the condensed milk into the bowl with the yolks and whisk to combine well or beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
Wash the lemons and pat dry. Grate the zest of 1 lemon into the bowl with the yolks. Cut all the lemons in half and juice them to yield 1/2 cup lemon juice. Pour this into the bowl with the yolks, and whisk well to combine, or mix on low speed 1 minute until well incorporated. Pour into the crust, and place in the oven to bake until set, about 15 minutes. Leave the oven on.
To make the meringue: Beat the egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue beating, gradually adding the sugar until it forms stiff and glossy peaks, about 2 minutes more.
Spoon the meringue over the top, and create swirls with a spoon or spatula. Place in the oven to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to let cool to room temperature, 1 to 2 hours, before slicing. Chill uncovered for up to three days.
ANNE BYRN is the New York Times bestselling food writer and author of Baking in the American South. She lives in Nashville, was the former food editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writes the weekly newsletter Between the Layers on Substack, and is a frequent contributor to the Bitter Southerner and Southern Living. If you have questions for Anne, send them to anne@
This article originally appeared on Southern Kitchen: Easy, creamy lemon icebox pie recipe for potlucks, picnics, summer
