How to Make Pink Lemonade Pies
and Their Cousins

Today I'm an expert on pink lemonade pies. That's because I made seven of them this morning to get a head start on tomorrow's Pink Lemonade Day at The Prepared Pantry. We'll hand out samples to folks coming into the store.

Pink Lemonade Pie


Kitchen tools, gourmet foods, baking mixes, and hard-to-find baking ingredients mentioned in this article are available at The Prepared Pantry.

by Dennis Weaver

Dennis

Now I'm writing this the lazy way, lounging in the shade at home under the aspens and maples in the corner of the yard. It's a hot day, at least by Idaho standards, but there's a persistent breeze that rattles the aspen leaves and makes the shadows dance and makes it a very pleasant day in the shade. Days like this are made for pink lemonade pie.

We've been making pink lemonade pies and their cousins for years now. We've tweaked the recipe along the way but basically, it's the same. We now make it in a springform pan instead of a pie pan but you can use either. With a graham cracker crust, it's easier to cut nice, neat slices using a springform pan.

And it's morphed from a recipe to a type of dessert. We don't stick strictly to lemonade. Several years ago, we made a limeade pie and tinted it green for St. Patrick's Day. We called it a leprechaun pie.

In your grocer's freezer case there is an amazing array of frozen fruit juice concentrates - like cherry cranberry and strawberry guava. They're all game for a pie.

These pies are absolutely scrumptious. They are frozen, almost ice cream pies, and don't require baking (unless you choose to bake the crust for eight to ten minutes) so they are perfect for summer.

We'll give you the latest version of our pink lemonade pie recipe and then instructions to make their cousins using other juices.

Pink Lemonade Pie

This pie can be made in a deep dish pie pan or a springform pan. We nearly always use a springform pan, either a ten-inch or a nine-inch. (The one in the picture was made with a ten-inch pan.) With a nine-inch springform pan instead of a ten-inch or a deep dish pie pan, you will have a tall, mounded dessert.

This pie is made in three parts: a graham cracker crust, a lemonade and cream cheese filling, and a whipped cream topping. If you prefer, you can use a commercial whipped topping or whipped cream from an aerosol can for the topping.

Ingredients

For the Crust

For the Filling

For the Topping

Instructions

  1. For the Crust: Mix the crumbs, sugar, and butter in a nine inch pie pan or spring form pan. Mix until the crumbs have absorbed the butter and the mixture is uniform.
  2. Press the crumbs across the bottom of the pan and up the sides.
  3. Bake for eight to ten minutes at 350 degrees F. (If it's a hot July day, you can choose not to bake the crust. A baked crust holds together better because the heat melts the sugar to help hold the crumbs together.)
  4. For the Filling: Using the whip attachment and your stand-type mixer or with a handheld electric mixer, mix the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together on medium high speed until the mixture is smooth. (If you place the sweetened condensed milk in the bowl first, the cream cheese will not stick to the bowl and you will have little need to scrape the sides.)
  5. Add the lemonade concentrate and lemon juice and continue beating. Color with red food coloring as desired.
  6. Pour the mixture into the pie shell and place it in the freezer while you mix the topping.
  7. For the Topping: Place the coconut in a small bowl with a drop of food coloring and a couple drops of water and stir until the coconut turns pink.
  8. Whip the cream until stiff, adding the sugar and vanilla in the process.
  9. Spoon the cream over the pie filling and garnish with the pink coconut.
  10. Freeze the pie until firm.

How to Make the Cousins

Leprechaun Pie

You make the cousins just as you do the original but substituting another juice. Taste your filling before adding the two tablespoons lemon juice but you will probably want to use them to balance the fruit flavor against the cream cheese. We just made pink raspberry lemonade pie but to balance the raspberry and the lemon, we added a 1/2 teaspoon lemon flavor. For strawberry guava pie, use the two tablespoons of lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon strawberry flavor. Here is the recipe for the limeade pie (leprechaun pie).

Limeade Pie

The mixture of lime and cream cheese is delightful, almost like a key lime pie.

For the Crust

For the Filling

For the Topping

Instructions

  1. For the Crust: Mix the crumbs, sugar, and butter in a nine inch pie pan or spring form pan. Mix until the crumbs have absorbed the butter and the mixture is uniform.
  2. Press the crumbs across the bottom of the pan and up the sides.
  3. Bake for eight to ten minutes at 350 degrees F. (If it's a hot July day, you can choose not to bake the crust. A baked crust holds together better because the heat melts the sugar to help hold the crumbs together.)
  4. For the Filling: Using the whip attachment and your stand-type mixer or with a handheld electric mixer, mix the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together on medium high speed until the mixture is smooth. (If you place the sweetened condensed milk in the bowl first, the cream cheese will not stick to the bowl and you will have little need to scrape the sides.)
  5. Add the limeade concentrate and lemon juice and continue beating. Color with food coloring as desired.
  6. Pour the mixture into the pie shell and place it in the freezer while you mix the topping.
  7. For the Topping: Place the coconut in a small bowl with a drop of food coloring and a couple drops of water and stir until the coconut turns pink.
  8. Whip the cream until stiff, adding the sugar and vanilla in the process.
  9. Spoon the cream over the pie filling and garnish with the pink coconut.
  10. Freeze the pie until firm.

What You'll Need

You can buy the ingredients at your grocery store with the exception of some of the flavors which you can get at The Prepared Pantry. We also carry a better selection and better colors, professional color gels. If you choose, you can purchase your graham cracker crumbs from us.

We sell hard-to-find deep dish pie pans in a dark metal, what you would want to bake fruit or pumpkin pies in to get the crust crisp and not soggy. It's not necessary for a graham cracker crust but will work if you want to multi-purpose your pans.

We really love our Candy Apple Red Silicone Springform Pans and use them exclusively for these pies.

Dennis Weaver is the founder of The Prepared Pantry, a full line kitchen store in Rigby, Idaho. The Prepared Pantry sells kitchen tools, gourmet foods, and baking ingredients including hundreds of hard-to-find ingredients.


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