Orange-Lemon Pie
Best thing about citrus fruit is its versatility and also it is always available all-year round. For the curd for this pie, try whatever citrus fruit you have in hand. Oranges are sweet once heated so you can reduce the amount of sugar in the filling. Also don’t be tempted to use the bottled stuff, freshly squeezed lemons are what sets the filling from any other.
This pie is made from my favorite biscuits, gingersnaps which back a punch with the amount of ginger in them but rounded of with some sweetness so that the ginger is not overwhelming.
Feel free to use any other biscuits and cookies you have leftover from the festive season. You can mix and match to your hearts content so long as you like the end result.
So if you want to use some chocolate wafers or Ding-Dongs, why not.
When I first made the recipe, I didn’t have an oven so I made a no-bake crust with the pie plate. It was really delicious but too cloying sweet as the sugar in the filling was too much. That pie made its debut for Thanksgiving but I forgot to take pictures.
The photos are from Christmas where I finally used an oven to bake the crust and it was still good as a tart and also you get to showcase the gorgeous tart shell.
If you don’t have a food processor, place your biscuits in a Ziploc or any large freezer bag, and whack them with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs. Then pour into a bowl and proceed with the recipe as is
Crust
300g gingersnap biscuits
3 tbsp brown sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Filling
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
4 tbsp. cornstarch/cornflour
1½ cups freshly squeezed orange juice, (not bottled!) strained to remove seeds and pulp
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ tsp. mint extract (optional)
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C or 350°F
Put the gingersnaps in a food processor and process until they are fine crumbs. Add the sugar and process again until everything is finely ground then add the butter and process briefly to combine.
Pat the crust into a 9.5-inch pie plate, and up the sides. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Put the sugar, salt, cornstarch and egg yolks in a saucepan with a heavy bottom and whisk to combine and break up the yolks. Whisk in the juices to combine thoroughly.
Place the saucepan on stove-top and heat the mixture to medium heat, whisking or stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. Boil for one minute exactly (set the timer.)
Strain the curd though a mesh strainer if you like, the step is optional, but will remove any little bits of curdled egg.
Fill the pie shell immediately, the curd will start to set fairly quickly.
Let cool and then refrigerate, uncovered, at least 4 hours to let it fully chill and firm up.
