This recipe for lemon pie dates to an 1889 White House cookbook where it appears as “LEMON PIE. No. 1. (Superior)” attributed to the (now long gone) Ebbitt House, Washington, D.C.

I tested the recipe a few times (all pictures are from pies I made).  While the original 1889 recipe is at the end of this post, it’s not as clear as it could be.  In testing the recipe, I’ve updated and illustrated the recipe instructions just below so it should be easier to get consistently great results.

This pie is a balance of tart and sweet. If you aren’t sure about meringue, skip it and top with whipped cream instead.  And most of all, enjoy!

1889 Lemon Pie No. 1 (Superior) Ebbitt House recipe

A lemon pie topped with meringue - or skip the meringue and use whipped cream.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

  

Filling

• 2 whole lemons
• 1.5 cups white granulated sugar
• 6 Tablespoons cornstarch (original recipe calls for two heaping tablespoons, but 6 measured Tablespoons works best here)
• 3 eggs separated into yolks and whites
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (in addition to the juiced lemons)

Meringue topping

• 5 egg whites three from the above ingredients, plus two more
• 5 Tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Crust

• 1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7 Tablespoons butter
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup ice-cold water
• pie weights use dried beans or rice to weight crust while pre-baking

Instructions

 

Filling

• Before you start on the filling, please make the crust (see directions below) or have a store bought pre-baked or no-cook crust ready--you will need the crust ready as soon as the filling is cooked. It is important to assemble the pie as soon as the lemon filling is cooked and while it is still hot, so that the meringue topping is set onto hot filling and then baked to cook completely.
  
• Grate or zest two lemons (yellow only, avoid the bitter white pith entirely) and mix with 1 1/2 cups sugar and 6 level tablespoons of cornstarch in a small bowl. Mix well.
• Juice the zested lemons into a bowl or cup and strain the seeds out. Set aside for a moment.
• In a separate set of bowls, separate three eggs with yolks in one medium bowl and whites in the other. Set the whites aside in the fridge, as you will whip them later into meringue.
• Beat the egg yolks well then add them to the dry mix of sugar and constarch and zest along with the juice of the zested lemons, plus half a cup of additional lemon juice, two cups of BOILING water and "a piece of butter the size of a walnut" in the old recipe is 2 Tablespoons. Mix well.
• This lemon mixture needs to cook in a double boiler so that it stays a nice light lemony yellow and does not darken as it cooks. If you do not have a double boiler, you can improvise like I did: pour the mixture into a smaller saucepan, and set that saucepan into a larger one that is partially filled with water. I set it on a metal steamer in a larger pan filled with water.
  
• While the mixture is cooking, begin the meringue topping by beating the egg whites. I use a stand mixer and whip the egg whites while I'm cooking the filling. When the egg whites are opaque white, add the sugar and continue to beat until they are stiff.
  
• Heat the lemon mixture over medium high on a double boiler. Once the water boils, cook, stirring frequently. It should thicken to a firm mousse or pudding texture within just a few minutes, Remove from heat and pour into a pre-baked crust.
  

Pre-Baked Crust

• Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. The crust for this pie is pre-baked before filling.
• Mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the butter. Mix until the butter pieces are small and resemble ground cornmeal. In a measuring cup, separate out an egg yolk and add the vinegar. Mix well and then add ice water to measure 1/4 cup. Add this to the flour and butter mixture and mix until it just comes together.
• Turn the crust out onto a floured surface and roll out until it will nicely line your greased pie plate.
• Once the dough is in your pie plate, trim the overhanging edges. Line the pan with tinfoil over the dough and add the weights to keep the crust shape while baking. I use dried beans, and I fill the pie to the top.
• Pre-bake the pie shell for 15 minutes and then remove the foil and weights (I re-use these and set them into a marked container once cool) and cook for 5-8 minutes until lightly golden.

Fill, Topping, and Baking

• Pour the HOT lemon filling into the pre-baked crust and top with the meringue. The meringue topping must go on a HOT lemon filling in order to cook properly and not get "weepy." If the filling is not warm, reheat it before topping with meringue.
• Use a knife or spoon dipped in water to spread the meringue mixture to all edges of the pie and swirl as you like,
• Bake the filled and topped pie for 20 minutes at 350F or until the meringue is nicely colored on top. Note: raw egg white meringue should be heated to 160 degrees F for food safety, or you can use pasteurized egg whites. Or skip the meringue, let the filling cool. and top with whipped cream instead of meringue.
  
• Let cool COMPLETELY for two hours (or more) before slicing.
  
• This pie should be stored in the fridge.
  

Notes

Tweaked from the original recipe in the 1889 edition of the White House Cookbook by Mrs. Fanny Gillette and Hugo Ziemann, Steward of the White House. My tweaks are in CAPITAL ITALICS.  The first time I made this pie, I cooked it too far too long, with the lower amount of cornstarch, and the lemon filling was caramel-like and awful--it really only needs a few minutes to thicken.

“LEMON PIE. No. 1. (Superior.) Take a deep dish, grate into it the outside of the rind of two lemons; add to that a cup and a half of white sugar, two heaping tablespoonfuls of unsifted flour, or one of cornstarch SIX TABLESPOONS; stir it well together, then add the yolks of three well-beaten eggs, beat this thoroughly, then add the juice of the lemons (PLUS HALF CUP LEMON JUICE), two cups of BOILING water and a piece of butter the size of a walnut (TWO TABLESPOONS). Set this on the fire in another dish containing boiling water and cook it until it thickens JUST A FEW MINUTES, and will dip up on the spoon like cold honey (IF YOU COOK TOO LONG IT WILL DARKEN AND TURN INTO CARAMEL). Remove from the fire, and when cooled DO NOT COOL, pour WHILE HOT it into a deep pie-tin, lined with PRE-BAKED pastry; bake NO, and when done, have ready the whites, beaten stiff, with three small tablespoonfuls of sugar (USE FIVE WHITES AND FIVE TABLESPOONS SUGAR). Spread this over the top and return to the oven, to set and brown slightly ABOUT 20 MIN TO COOK MERINGUE. This makes a deep, large sized pie, and very superior." Attributed to the Ebbitt House, Washington, D.C. in the cookbook.

 

 

 

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