It is a serious upgrade of traditional Russian lemon pie (Limonnik). The very rare case when reducing the calories improves the flavor. The calories reduction comes from substituting of the 3rd of the flour with the almond flour (will try to substitute half next time) and as always I put half of the sugar than in the original recipe (the amounts here are post-reduction). It’s still sweet, but much crumblier and interesting, also ginger makes it very fragrant. Hope you bake it soon, it will be great with your cup of tea or coffee.
Ingredients:
for the dough:
- 200 gr (1+2/3 stick) of butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups regular all purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
for the filling:
- 1 big or 1+1/2 medium lemons ( I took 2 small mayer lemons)
- 2/3 cup of sugar
- small (1 inch size) piece of ginger
Directions:
- In a big bowl place cold butter, flour (all purpose and almond), sugar, salt.
- Cut the butter with pastry cutter (or on a food processor) till butter is pea size
- Add sour cream, egg, continue mixing with a steady spoon
- Switch to hands and kneed the dough till you make it to a ball. Almond flour makes it a little harder to bring together. If it’s too crumbly add 1-2 tbsp of cold water. Or delegate the process to the food processor.
- Divide the dough into 2 unequal part (70/30).
- The smaller part goes to freezer, the bigger one – to a fridge for about an hour
Make a filling by:
- Zest the lemon
- Grind the lemons using a box grater or food processor
- Grind piece of ginger
- Add sugar and mix all together
- Remove lemon seeds from the filling
Bake the pie:
- Cover baking form with the parchment paper
- Take the bigger part of the the dough and using your palms spread it evenly to form a bottom later of the pie with small walls
- Spread the filling over the bottom layer
- Take the smaller part of the dough from the freezer and grind it over the filling evenly, it should be easy.
- Place into preheated to 375 °F oven and bake for about 45-50 min or until golden brown
- 30 min into baking sprinkle the pie with sliced almonds (optional)
- Sprinkle the pie with powdered sugar when it’s room temperature
