Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

I love to learn about new-to-me, region-specific recipes—especially when it’s a dish with an ingredient or method that’s unfamiliar, or when the title doesn’t automatically reveal what makes it special. Even though I spend my days at Taste of Home researching these very things, I’m always all ears when my friends and family share their cooking discoveries with me after-hours.

Naturally, I was excited when my boyfriend’s mom told me about Arizona sunshine lemon pie, something she makes during the winter months while snowbirding in the sunny Grand Canyon State. On top of that, I was lucky she was willing to pass along her recipe for the regional dessert.

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What is Arizona sunshine lemon pie?

Arizona sunshine lemon pie uses almost the entire lemon—including the peel—to generously flavor the filling of this blender pie recipe. Melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla balance the tangy citrus flavor of the fruit and the bitterness of the lemon peel. When these ingredients are blended together, poured into a pie crust and baked for 40-ish minutes, they create a creamy, custardy and bright-tasting filling that’s ideal for so many lemon dessert recipes.

This Arizona recipe may have been invented as a way to use the entire lemon. After all, it’s not uncommon for people in Arizona to have a backyard lemon tree, yielding fruits as big as the palm of your hand. But don’t worry—you can still make this recipe if you don’t have a personal lemon tree or if you live in a place where you can find only regular lemons at the grocery store.

Ingredients for Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

• Lemon: Since we tested this recipe in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen here in Wisconsin, we used a large, regular lemon instead of an Arizona lemon. A seedless variety makes putting the filling together even easier, but if you can’t find seedless lemons, just remove the seeds when you cut up the fruit.
• Eggs: We bake with room-temperature eggs because they mix into batters and doughs more easily than cold eggs do. So, if you have time, let the eggs sit on the counter for a little bit before whipping up the filling. Otherwise, you can put them into a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 10 to 15 minutes to bring them down to room temperature.
• Melted butter: Butter helps make the filling creamy and rich. Make sure you let the melted butter cool a little bit before adding it to the other ingredients. If it’s too hot, you risk cooking the eggs in the blender before the filling is poured into the crust and baked.
• Granulated sugar: A generous amount of sugar cancels out any of the bitterness that you’d get from the peels and pith of the lemon. Sugar also balances out the tartness of the citrus fruit.
• Vanilla extract: Use a nice vanilla extract brand to match the quality of flavor you’ll get from a fresh lemon.
• Deep-dish pie crust: This recipe takes mere minutes to prepare if you use a store-bought, premade pie crust. We recommend a deep-dish crust as opposed to a regular pie crust. With a regular pie crust, you’ll have some leftover filling that may go to waste.
• Homemade whipped topping: Beat together heavy whipping cream and sugar to make homemade whipped cream, which is far superior to Cool Whip when it comes to toppings for pie recipes.

Directions

Step 1: Blend the filling

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Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a high-powered blender or food processor, blend the lemon, eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Editor’s Tip: We chopped off the tips of the lemons to be cautious about the amount of bitterness in the filling, since the very ends don’t contain fruit anyway!

Step 2: Bake the lemon pie

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Place the pie crust onto a baking sheet and pour the filling into the crust. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the filling is puffed and golden, 40 to 45 minutes.

Editor’s Tip: Placing the pie on a cookie sheet makes it easier to slide the pie in and out of the oven, catching any pie filling spills as you do so. Just make sure to use a very thin cookie sheet. If you use a regular or heavy-duty sheet, the bottom of the crust may burn, as thicker baking sheets hold a lot more heat than thin ones.

Step 3: Let the pie set

Cool on a wire rack for one hour, then cover and refrigerate until set, for four hours or overnight.

Editor’s Tip: The pie will still be a little jiggly in the middle when you pull it out of the oven. Don’t fret! It will solidify as it sits.

Step 4: Make the homemade whipped cream

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In a large bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until it begins to thicken. Add the sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Spoon or pipe onto the chilled pie. Slice and serve.

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Recipe Variations

• Try making the filling with Meyer lemons: Here in the Midwest, Meyer lemons are a sweet find at Trader Joe’s or your local grocery store in the late winter and springtime. They’re smaller and less tart than a regular lemon, almost tasting like a hybrid between a mandarin orange and a lemon. In the spirit of utilizing in-season produce, I tried the recipe with 2-1/2 Meyer lemons in place of one regular lemon and found sweet success.
• Make the crust from scratch: If you prefer, you can make your favorite pie crust recipe instead of buying one at the store. We think that butter vs. shortening or lard makes the best pie crust. Otherwise, you could experiment with a shortbread crust. For homemade pie crust of any kind, though, make sure to use a deep pie dish; otherwise, you may have some leftover filling that goes to waste.
• Give the pie a new garnish: A sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar would look quite dainty on top of this spring pie, especially when you serve it as a special Mother’s Day dessert. Or, add some flavoring to the homemade whipped cream to give each bite even more personality. A lavender whipped cream would be dreamy. Double down with the lemon flavor by making lemon whipped cream. Finally, a berry whipped cream would give the topping a complementary color to go along with the yellow.
• Serve with style: Who doesn’t love a dessert served a la mode? A scoop of vanilla ice cream to accompany each slice would go a long way with your guests.

How to Store Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie

How long does Arizona sunshine lemon pie last?

This recipe for Arizona sunshine lemon pie will last for three to four days when covered and stored in the refrigerator.

Can you freeze Arizona sunshine lemon pie?

Yes, you can freeze Arizona lemon pie. Let it cool and set fully in the fridge before popping it in the freezer, though. After the pie is set, slide it in the freezer for two or three hours until it’s firm enough to wrap in storage wrap and keep in a freezer-safe zip-top plastic bag. It will last for three months when stored this way.

In general, we don’t recommend freezing pies that have a custard filling—with a high amount of dairy—since the texture will change and the filling ingredients often separate in the freezer. (For example, we say no to freezing lemon custard pie, which calls for a large amount of milk in addition to eggs and butter.) However, this Arizona sunshine lemon pie recipe uses only butter, so you’re in the clear!

Can you make Arizona sunshine lemon pie ahead of time?

Yes, in fact you need to make this blender pie ahead since it needs to cool and chill for at least four hours before serving. Slices are best served cold, so build time into your schedule so every bite of this pie is sweet, tart and refreshing.

Arizona Sunshine Lemon Pie Tips

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How can you tell when the Arizona sunshine lemon pie is done baking?

The Arizona lemon pie will still be a little jiggly in the center, but when you give the sheet pan a gentle shake, you want to make sure the edges of the pie are fairly set and the entire filling doesn’t jiggle around. If you find that the pie is browning on top too quickly while the filling still jiggles too much, you can cover it with tin foil and pop it back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Why is my Arizona sunshine lemon pie bitter?

Most lemon pie recipes call for fresh lemon juice and maybe some grated zest, but this Arizona sunshine lemon pie recipe uses the entire peel and the pith (the white stuff between the fruit and the peel). The peel and the pith are the most bitter parts of the lemon, so if your pie is too bitter, it’s probably because there is too much of one of those. If your pie is bitter even with just one whole lemon, as our recipe calls for, try picking a smaller lemon next time or cutting off a little bit more of the peel from both ends of the fruit. Otherwise, you can simply remove some of the peel and/or pith before putting it all in the blender.

How should you store lemons before making Arizona sunshine lemon pie?

Although it can be tempting to use lemons as springtime kitchen decor sitting in a bowl on the counter, store lemons in the refrigerator. They’ll last for two weeks in the crisper drawer and up to a month when stored in a resealable plastic bag.