Lemon Pie

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease the interior of a mini muffin pan.
2. Let pie crusts soften to room temperature. Roll out both pie crusts on a pastry board or large cutting board. Use a 3.75 inch flower cookie cutter to cut 12 flower shapes out of the dough (6 from each pie crust).
3. Place one cut dough into one of the cavities of the muffin pan, pressing down so that the center of the dough presses against all the sides and bottom of the cavity and the petals are flattened on top of the pan. Repeat with remaining dough, but stagger the dough so that you only use every other muffin cavity, otherwise the flower petals won't have enough room on top. Use a fork to pierce the bottom of the crusts 3 times. See photo in post for reference.
4. Bake pie crusts in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and fully cooked. Set aside to cool.
5. As the crust is cooling, make your filling. Add cream cheese to a mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl a few times as needed to make sure all the cream cheese gets beaten.
6. Add in the condensed milk. Mix until mixture is smooth. Add in the lemon juice. Mix at low speed until completely and evenly incorporated.
7. When pie crusts are cooled, use a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop to scoop the filling and release it directly into each of the cooled crusts. Use a spatula or spoon to smooth and even out the surface if needed. If desired, dust the surface with powdered sugar.
8. Place pies in the fridge for several hours to set. Keep pies in the fridge until ready to serve.
9. Notes
10. Cookie cutter: I used this 3 3/4 inch flower cutter.*
11. You only need to refrigerate the filling for about 1-2 hours but the pies can be made the day before.
12. If you don't have a mini muffin pan this also works with a standard muffin pan but your flower petals will be inside the muffin tin molds and the petals won't be as open.
13. You can also make a full sized pie if you don't have a flower cookie cutter. You will need to double the filling for one 9-inch pie.
14. Pie crust: You can find premade pie crusts (the kind that is a premade dough that you unroll and bake) at most grocery stores. I tested this with Pillsbury* and Amazon Fresh* brands. Each of them came with 2 crusts in the box. Make sure to use the shortcrust type, not the puff pastry kind.
15. Condensed milk: You will need half of a 14-oz can condensed milk which is about 2/3 cup if you don't have a scale to measure out 7 oz (weight not fluid ounces). This recipe only works with sweetened condensed milk. Dairy-free alternatives don't work because the acid reacts to the milk protein to thicken the mixture.
16. Lemon juice: You can use fresh squeezed lemon juice or bottled lemon juice. If using store bought, make sure that the only ingredient is lemon juice. Just because it is labeled "100% lemon juice" does not necessarily mean there aren't other ingredients in the bottle so make sure to check the nutrition label. I like Santa Cruz Organic 100% lemon juice* and Whole Foods 365 Organic Lemon Juice*. The RealLemon brand (green bottle and sometimes sold in little lemon shaped containers) will not work.
17. *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
18. Make sure to really press the dough around the sides and bottom of the muffin cavity because the pie crust will puff up as it bakes so you will have less room for the filling if you don't fully press it down. In addition, the pie bottoms will be less stable if you don't fully press the crust against the interior of each muffin cavity.
19. You can re-roll the crust scraps but I found that it was difficult to get the right thickness when re-rolling and the my re-rolled scraps didn't bake up the same size as the other pies that were cut from the original crust.
20. The filling is enough for 14 pies but I made the recipe for 12 since you would need another mini muffin pan if making 14.
21. The nutrition estimate is calculated with 1.5 (9-inch) pie doughs instead of 2 since there are many leftover dough scraps.