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This Lemon Mascarpone Cream Pie is full of lovely lemon flavor! It’s light and perfect for summer, and I love the addition of the smooth and creamy mascarpone cheese!
Lemon Mascarpone Cream Pie
I hope everyone enjoy the Independence Day holiday yesterday. The hubs was off work both Monday and Tuesday and while I had some things to do, we did get to enjoy some nice time with friends and even saw fireworks both nights.
We’ve had more rain in the last week or so than we’ve had in a long time, so getting outside was tricky. Fortunately, we got out on the lake at about midday Monday and didn’t have any more rain for the rest of the day. The longest stretch of pretty weather all weekend I think. It was really nice to relax a bit.
And then of course there’s the good food. I’ve been quite healthy lately, but I gave myself a bit of a break and enjoyed some tasty treats. This pie would have been great to have on hand too, but it was made a few weeks ago. Time to make it again I guess!
How to Make this Easy Lemon Mascarpone Cream Pie
The pie begins with a classic graham cracker crust. It’s a nice, thick crust that’s sweetened a bit with a little sugar. It’s my favorite way to make a graham cracker crust. I personally think the crust is a little bland without it. No surprise there – the more sugar, the better. 🙂 I baked the crust to make sure it holds together well, but you don’t have to if you’d prefer not.
The filling itself is no bake and very easy to put together. It starts with some sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest. Combine them and set aside to make the cream mixture.
First is the whipped cream. If you aren’t as familiar with making homemade whipped cream, I can assure you it’s super easy. Add heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. I know it may be tempting to cut back on the powdered sugar, but it actually adds stability to the whipped cream so you won’t want to do that here.
After the cream reaches stiff peaks, add in the mascarpone cheese. Often cheeses like cream cheese will be used at room temperature, but that isn’t really necessary with mascarpone. It’s naturally softer and I find that if I let it warm up too much, it doesn’t firm back up as well when put back in the fridge. Add the mascarpone cheese to the whipped cream and whip just until combined, then fold the mixture together carefully until well combined.
Next up is to combine the whipped cream mixture and the lemon mixture. Add about 1/3 of the lemon mixture to the whipped cream and carefully fold them together. Combining them slowly helps to ensure that the whipped cream doesn’t deflate. Once mostly combined, add the rest of the lemon mixture.
Pour the mixture into the pie crust and refrigerate until firm and ready to serve. I like to top mine with some lemon whipped cream, lemon slices and a bit of mint, for a touch of color. Feel free to decorate as you like.
This pie is super light, creamy, smooth and such a great dessert for summer! I hope you enjoy it!
Watch How To Make It
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Lemon Mascarpone Cream Pie
- Prep Time: 6 hours
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Lemon Mascarpone Cream Pie is full of lovely lemon flavor! The addition of smooth and creamy mascarpone cheese makes the pie light, fluffy and perfect for summer.
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 1/2 cups (201g) graham cracker crumbs, from about 12 graham crackers
- 2 tbsp (26g) sugar
- 7 tbsp (98g) butter, melted
Lemon Filling
- 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup (115g) powdered sugar
- 12 oz mascarpone cheese
- yellow icing color or food coloring, if desired
Lemon Whipped Cream
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup (58g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- Lemon slices
- Mint leaves, optional
Instructions
To Make the Graham Cracker Crust
- Grease an 8 or 9-inch pie pan and preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).
- Place graham crackers in a food processor or crush in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.
- Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a medium bowl and mix until combined.
- Press the crumb mixture evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan, then bake for 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
To Make the Lemon Filling
- In a medium bowl combine the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, add the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar. Whip on high speed until very stiff peaks form.
- Add the mascarpone cheese to the whipped cream and whip on medium speed just until combined. Then continue gently folding together until well combined.
- Add about 1/3 of the lemon mixture to the whipped cream and gently fold to combine.
- Add the remaining lemon mixture and gently fold to combine.
- Add a little yellow icing color or food coloring, if desired.
- Add the filling mixture to the cooled pie crust and refrigerate until firm, 4-5 hours.
To Make the Lemon Whipped Cream and Decorate the Pie
- Add all four whipped cream ingredients to a mixer bowl and whip until stiff peaks form.
- Top the pie with some lemon slices and mint leaves. Pipe swirls of whipped cream around the edge.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 588
- Sugar: 36 g
- Sodium: 266.8 mg
- Fat: 42 g
- Carbohydrates: 48.5 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 111.5 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
Yummiest pie recipe ever!!! I crumbled up some Annie’s ginger crisp cookies in with the Graham crackers and decorated the top with the cookies for a bit of a change up since I’ve made the pie 5 times already!! I did have some of the filling leftover too, I just used it to put on the extra ginger cookies a few at a time for a treat. Thanks for a great recipe!
Awesome! So glad you’ve enjoyed it!
Can you use whipped mascarpone instead of the bar like cream cheese.
The only form my store carries
I’m not familiar with it, but it would probably be ok.
My goodness…. this looks SO DECADENT! Can’t wait to try!! Thanks for the beautiful pictures and for sharing your recipe…. MJ.
I made this pie yesterday, it looked fantastic, but when I cut a slice, the pie was loose. What can make the pie more firm? Not sure what held the pie to make it firm, no jello, etc? Help…love the flavor…
Hmm, it should be plenty firm. Did you use the full amount of powdered sugar in the whipped cream? I know sometimes people like to reduce the amount of sugar, but it actually helps stabilize this whipped cream – and therefore the pie.
This was fantastic!!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Could I make this the day before? How stable is the whipped cream topping when using the powdered vs. granulated sugar? Thanks!
Yes, you can. Powdered sugar will stabilize the whipped cream, but I don’t think granulated sugar will.
I made this pie yesterday and I have some questions about the quantities of the ingredients. I made the crust and I think there is a problem with the amount of butter. The crust came out creasy and kind of mushy. Should that be 7 teaspoons of butter instead of 7 tablespoons. Also, the filling (which is very good) made enough for 2 pies. Let me know if there are changes to the recipe. Thank you.
I tested this recipe several times and didn’t have those issues. You could certainly reduce the amount of butter if it seemed too much for you. As for the pie filling, perhaps my pie plate was deeper than yours, so you ended up with more?
Could you freeze the basic pie, before the topping?
I haven’t tried it, but I’d think it’d be fine.
Hey Lindsay! Is this pie too tart or just slightly tart?
I would imagine there’s a bit of personal preference with that, but I would say that this is probably more sweet than tart.
Beautiful, do you think you could substitute with cream cheese for the marscapone?
Yes, you could do that.
Hi the taste isn’t like cheesecake?
No, it doesn’t taste like cheesecake.
if you do not have mascarpone cheese what can be used as a subsitute
You can try cream cheese.
I just wanted to let you know, you have the best dessert recipes that I have come across. I obviously haven’t seen all the blogs, but I have seen a lot. I know I can always count on you for a dessert I want to make for some occasion!! Thanks so much. LG. PS…your pictures are beautifully done, too.
Thank you so much Lynne! 🙂
Just made this pie. It is absolutely wonderful!! Thank you for sharing.
This pie is SO BEAUTIFUL. Craving a slice!
Can you sub any citrus flavoring for the lemon? Looks AMAZING!!
hey girl- this pie looks amazing! I love everything lemon!!