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With its unique taste, the limonnik provides a surprise with every bite. It is so refreshing, sweet-sour, fruity, crumbly and aromatic. You can make the popular Russian lemon pie at home quickly and easily with just a few ingredients. It is an ideal dessert for the summer. You can find a detailed limonnik recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
What is limonnik?
Limonnik is a Russian filled lemon pie. It is a very old, fairly simple recipe.
The cake consists of a shortcrust pastry that contains no eggs or sugar, but does contain sour cream. For the filling, you puree a whole lemon with peel, similar to the vegan chocolate lemon layer cake, and mix it with sugar.
There are also limonnik recipes with yeast shortcrust dough. Incidentally, the apricot kisses are made from a similar dough.
The name “limonnik” comes from the Russian word “limon”. Translated, it means “lemon”.
For all those who love special pastries
Limonnik has a special taste that sets it apart from any other lemon cake, such as the lemon pound cake or the vegan lemon cake. It is ideal for anyone who wants to try something out of the ordinary for dessert.
The limonnik base tastes crumbly and tender. It practically melts in the mouth. It is also unsweetened as it contains no sugar. The same applies to the dough for the Napoleon puff pastry slices and the Tatar cookies “Barmak”.
The sweet-sour lemon filling complements this shortcrust pastry perfectly. It tastes heavenly refreshing and is very aromatic. It also has a slightly bitter note, typical of lemons or rather lemon peel.
Which lemons for limonnik filling?
Use organic lemons for the limonnik filling, just like for the lemonade, the lemon crinkle cookiess, the Easter cookies “fried egg”, the lemon raspberry cupcakes or the mini cakes “Nezhnost”, as you need them with the peel. This way you avoid pesticides, which mainly accumulate in the peel of conventional fruits.
In addition, lemons with a thin peel are best suited for the Russian lemon pie. They don’t contain as much of the pith, which tastes bitter.
Reduce the bitter note
Limonnik has a slightly bitter taste, which is typical of a citrus peel. This is also what makes the pie so unique. It is similar with the orange roll cookies.
However, you can also reduce this bitter note if you don’t like it. To do this, bring plenty of water to a boil in a saucepan and carefully add the lemon with peel to the water. Boil it for 1 minute. Then remove the lemon and immediately pour cold water over it.
This lemon pie is
- refreshing,
- fruity,
- crumbly,
- sweet-sour,
- juicy,
- tender,
- unique in taste,
- incredibly delicious,
- very aromatic,
- quick and easy to make,
- ideal summer dessert,
- sweet classic of Russian cuisine.
How to make limonnik: tips and tricks
- Knead the dough only briefly until it has a roughly homogeneous consistency and never for too long. Otherwise it could taste tough and not crumbly after baking.
- Lemons with a thin peel are best suited for the Russian lemon pie.
- You can adjust the amount of sugar for the filling to taste. Bear in mind that the dough contains no sugar and lemons taste quite sour.
- Only add sugar to the pureed lemon just before you spread the filling over the dough base. Otherwise the lemon juice will melt the sugar and create far too much excess liquid.
- I used a round, Ø 26 cm springform tin for baking. Alternatively, you can use a suitable rectangular tin.
- The holes made with a fork on the surface of the cake ensure that the steam from the filling can escape during baking.
Russian lemon pie video recipe
You can find a short video for the limonnik on my Youtube channel. There you can see exactly how to make it at home. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, please subscribe to my channel.
Did you make the limonnik using this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below on how you liked the Russian lemon pie.
Also try these recipes with lemon:
- Homemade lemon ice cream – creamy egg free recipe
- Hungarian vatrushka – recipe for aromatic lemon cheese buns
- How to make lemon iced tea – refreshing classic
Limonnik (Russian lemon pie)
Equipment
- Ø 26 cm springform tin
Ingredients
for the dough
- 150 g sour cream
- 150 g butter cold
- 320 g flour
- 2 g baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- flour for the work surface
for the filling
- 1 organic lemon
- 200 g sugar
- 15 g cornstarch
Instructions
Preparation of the dough
- Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add cold butter and chop finely.
- Dissolve baking soda in sour cream.
- Add the sour cream to the butter flour mixture and knead briefly and quickly to form a roughly homogeneous shortcrust dough.
- Divide the dough into one larger and one slightly smaller piece and chill in an airtight container for 30 minutes.
Preparation of the filling
- Cut unpeeled lemon into pieces and remove the seeds.
- Place the lemon pieces with peel in a blender and puree until smooth.
- Weigh out sugar and put it to one side for now (do not mix with the lemon!).
Preparation of the cake
- Line the base of the springform tin with baking paper.
- First roll out the larger piece of dough on a floured work surface into a circle that is a few centimetres larger in diameter than the springform tin.
- Place the circle of dough in the baking tin, pull up a small edge and sprinkle the base of the dough evenly with cornflour.
- Roll out the smaller piece of dough into a circle that is the same size as the springform tin.
- Add the sugar to the pureed lemon and stir briefly.
- Spread the lemon filling evenly over the cornstarch-dusted dough base in the springform tin.
- Carefully place the second circle of dough on top of the filling and stick the edges of the cake firmly together.
- Prick the cake in several places with a fork.
- Bake the Russian lemon pie in a preheated oven at 356 °F (180 °C) for approx. 30 minutes and leave to cool completely.
- Cut the lemon cake into pieces and serve.
Notes
- Knead the dough only briefly until it has a roughly homogeneous consistency and never for too long. Otherwise it could taste tough and not crumbly after baking.
- Lemons with a thin peel are best suited for the Russian lemon pie.
- You can adjust the amount of sugar for the filling to taste. Bear in mind that the dough contains no sugar and lemons taste quite sour.
- Only add sugar to the pureed lemon just before you spread the filling over the dough base. Otherwise the lemon juice will melt the sugar and create far too much excess liquid.
- I used a round, Ø 26 cm springform tin for baking. Alternatively, you can use a suitable rectangular tin.
- The holes made with a fork on the surface of the cake ensure that the steam from the filling can escape during baking.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the limonnik at the top of the article.
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