I am saving this recipe to try this summer…
On Cooks Country, Bridget confessed to loving lemon meringue pie so much that she has it, rather than cake, on her birthday. But after sampling the show’s version of this north Florida specialty, she said it dethrones lemon meringue. They said the tartness of sour orange means a graham cracker crust isn’t sweet enough so they used animal crackers plus sugar. This sounds to me like unjustified fussifying. The filling will be plenty sweet, and if I wanted to use commercial cookies it would be something good, like Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies or Walkers shortbread. Since sour oranges aren’t widely available, they tested substitutes and settled on OJ concentrate plus fresh lemon juice. The lemon overpowered if normal OJ was used.
Crust: buzz 5oz animal crackers in the food processor, add a pinch salt, 3T sugar, and 4T melted butter, buzz, press in 9" pie pan, 325° 12-14 min, cool.
Filling: 14oz can sweetened condensed milk, pinch salt, 6T EACH lemon juice and OJ concentrate, 1 t lemon zest, 2t orange zest. Into cooled crust, bake 16 min longer.
Top each slice with a dollop of whipped cream. If making your own, add a bit of orange zest.