The Shakers are a Protestant religious group which has almost completely died out. This seems an obvious result of their celibacy. You can read more about them here. The Shaker Lemon Pie was invented by this thrifty group because being unable to grow it, they traded for this fruit and believed it a sin to waste any part of it.
I looked at a number of recipes before choosing one I liked. Most call for 2 lemons sliced thin and macerated in sugar for 6-8 hours and baked with 4 eggs in a 2 crust pie. I found this nice tart recipe at The Kitchn. It differs from most other recipes in several ways. First, it uses 3 lemons, not two. Second, it recommends macerating the lemons in the sugar for 24 hours if you're using Meyer lemons, and 36 or more hours for regular lemons. This longer time seems important in making whole lemons palatable and not too bitter. This recipe also uses a tart shell with no top crust and a little butter in the filling. Looks perfect...
I washed and dried 3 lemons, then zested them according to directions. I decided to cut the peel off one of the lemons and leave the other 2 whole. Sliced thin and stirred up with the sugar and a pinch of salt, I left them for 24 hours. It's a good idea to stir them once or twice during this time because the sugar will settle to the bottom.
The next day, the lemons were softer and swimming in syrupy juice. I got the tart dough ready in my pie plate since I don't have a tart pan. Next I fished the lemons out of the juice and arranged them in the pie.
The four eggs, melted butter and flour were mixed into the juices and poured over the lemons. It's important to poke them down if you have any pieces sticking up so they won't burn. This goes into a hot oven to bake. I'm very sad to report that I, like, totally burned this crust. It's embarrassing and I have no excuse, but the good news is that I just trimmed off the charred edges and the pie was saved. The Shakers would be proud that I wasted not.
Shaker Lemon Tart
1 crust
3 lemons, preferably Meyer lemons
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons flour
-Wash and dry the lemons. If you can find organic lemons this is better since you'll basically be eating them whole.
-Grate the zest into a bowl. I cut the pith off one lemon, next time I'll cut the pith off two and leave one whole. Slice the lemons as thin as possible. A mandolin slicer would be good here. Remove the seeds. Combine the slices, zest, sugar and salt, cover and set aside at room temperature for a minimum of 24 hours. If you're using regular lemons, leave them alone for 36-48 hours. This allows the zest and pith to soften.
-Prepare your pie or tart shell and chill it.
-Preheat the oven to 425. Pick the lemon slices out of the juice and arrange them in the tart shell. Whisk the juice/sugar combination with the four eggs, melted butter and flour and pour over the lemons. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, then cover loosely with foil and turn the oven down to 350 for another 20 minutes. My crust was burned when I checked on it after 22 minutes to turn the oven down. So check on yours at about 15 minutes and go ahead and cover it. I don't think this would be a problem with a proper tart pan because the edges wouldn't be sticking up asking to burn. Another trick which I didn't take the time for is to move your oven rack down to the lowest level when you bake a pie with an uncooked shell. This helps it to brown on the bottom rather than getting soggy, and prevents excessive browning on top.
You must let this cool completely before slicing. I love lemon, and I really like this pie. It's custardy and chewy and every once in a while you bite into a lemon and get a burst of pure citrus. Be aware that this is chock full of lemon slices and perhaps this may be too weird for you. I prefer to eat it a half slice at a time to avoid overload.
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