Limonnik (Russian lemon pie)
With its unique taste, the limonnik provides a surprise with every bite. It is so refreshing, sweet-sour, fruity, crumbly and aromatic. With this recipe, 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.
Servings 10
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.