Lemon pie

This version of lemon pie uses the lemon curd filling for beignets made earlier. Regular milk and regular sugar are used instead of any kind of specialized condensed milk that comes with sugar in it. 

A crust is provided made of animal crackers instead of Graham crackers. You know what? These animal crackers are delicious. I bought a huge bag of them and couldn't keep off them. When it came around to making a pie crust there wasn't enough animal crackers left so I had to substitute with a few Graham crackers. Once you get going on the animal crackers at first you might wonder what attraction they had for you as a tot, as you bite off the camel's head it occurs to you the crackers are not all that sweet. You ponder further while nibbling away at the camel's feet that there is a predominate taste of vanilla. And now sucking the guts out of a camel's torso you realize the crackers can be adjusted with sugar and with cinnamon and possibly even cocoa, but certainly not with vanilla. 

This is the smallest spring form pan available in the world of ordinarily sized things. I am sure you can find smaller spring form pans in the world of novelty sized things, but those are absurd! 

For this small amount of pie crust and imagining Graham crackers as we go ...

Cracker crust:

*  1 cup dry crackers like Graham or animal crackers.

*  1/4 cup melted butter

*  2 tablespoons sugar

*  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

*  1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

Bake 8 minutes or so. This is 10 minutes at 400℉/205℃ convection. 

So what do you do when Life hands you a lemon? 

After careful consideration and mindful of one's manners, one may ask, 

"Life, would you be so kind as to hand me a few eggs as well? And so generous as to hand me two cups of milk? And we can use half a cup of sugar. And if it is not asking too much, Life, I'll have a whisk too and sturdy sauce pot with a handle, and a stove of some sort" 

Lemon custard:

*  two cups milk

*  two rounded tablespoons corn starch

*  1/2 cup sugar of any type you like

*  2 egg yolks

*  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

*  pinch of salt

*  all the finely grated zest of one whole lemon

*  all the juice of one whole lemon

Whisk while heating to the boil. At the boiling point the corn starch takes over and the mixture thickens immediately and a bit surprisingly, by then the egg yolk is certainly fully cooked. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Whipped cream:

*  2 cups heavy cream

*  1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

*  1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk until stiff peaks form.