Fluffy Lemon Chiffon Pie – This old-fashioned recipe is the perfect lemon dessert, soft and fluffy with a homemade vanilla wafer crust.
Lemon Chiffon Pie
A homemade vanilla wafer crust paired with a fluffy lemon filling. This is such a nice refreshing dessert on a warm day or after a family BBQ.
Ingredients for Lemon Chiffon Pie
- Vanilla Wafer Cookies – I prefer the Classic Nilla Wafer Cookies for this recipe.
- Butter – you will need one stick of butter. Salted or unsalted butter will both work.
- 4 eggs – yolks and whites divided.
- Lemon zest – don’t skip this ingredient. It gives the pie a better depth of flavor.
- Lemon Juice – freshly squeezed.
- Granulated White Sugar
- Salt
- Cold Water
- Unflavored Gelatin – see picture above if you aren’t familiar with what to look for when shopping for this ingredient.
- Cool Whip – one 8 oz container of thawed Cool Whip recommended.
How to Make Lemon Chiffon Pie
- Start by preparing vanilla wafer crust.
- Use a food processor to process cookies into crumbs. Alternatively, you can place cookies in a plastic baggies and use a rolling pin to crush.
- Combine crumbs with melted butter and press into 9 inch pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden and then set aside to cool completely.
- Combine unflavored gelatin with cold water and set aside.
- Use a double boiler to combine egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Whisk constantly until the mixture turns an opaque color and slightly thickens. Remove from heat and combine with gelatin mixture.
- Use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into lemon mixture.
Recipe Tips
- Use a microplane to zest lemon. Zest only the yellow part of the peel. The white part underneath will make the pie bitter.
- You can substitute 4 cups of homemade whipped cream for Cool Whip.
- If you don’t have a double boiler, you can use a stainless steel mixing bowl set on a pot of simmering water. The bottom of the mixing bowl should not touch the water.
Soft and Fluffy Lemon Chiffon Pie with a Homemade Vanilla Wafer Crust
- 54 vanilla wafer cookies
- 1/2 cup butter melted (one stick)
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest plus more for topping
- 1/4 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 tbsp unflavored gelatin one small package
- 8 oz tub of Cool Whip
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, or plastic bag using a rolling pin, crush wafer cookies until finely crushed. Combine with melted butter and press firmly and evenly into pie dish. Bake crust for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
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Add gelatin to cold water, mix to dissolve and set aside. In a double boiler on medium-high heat, place egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice in the bowl. Whisk constantly until the mixture turns an opaque color and slightly thickens, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add gelatin, stirring until dissolved. Place in the fridge for one hour or freezer for ten minutes and allow to cool and thicken to curd like consistency.
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In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat egg whites until soft and stiff peaks form to make a meringue. Fold in meringue in two parts with lemon mixture. Do this slowly to keep the air of the egg whites. Place filling into cooled crust and top with Cool Whip. Place in the fridge for at least one hour before serving. Enjoy!
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This pie was so good so airy and fluffy, basically like a cloud! This was the perfect dessert for summer!
This is so light and bursting with tart, lemon flavor. It’s a family favorite!
This is seriously one delicious pie! So glad you get lemon flavor in every bite because it’s my favorite!