Lemon pie

As long as the elderflower is blossoming in Mecklenburg, we wished to bake a cake including it. The fragrance of the fresh blossoms made it impossible to resist. As nature is a bit slower here in the high north, the elderflower in most other parts of Germany already changed to the growth of fruits, you can choose as well to prepare the pie with elderflower syrup. We love to cook a stock of elderflower syrup, to preserve the flavour the whole year around. You will find our recipe for this on the blog too. Who does not have fresh blossoms by hand, exchanges the honey with the amount of syrup.

To prepare the stuffing you thoroughly wash the lemon, rub off the skin and press the juice. Pull off the elder blossoms from the umbels and bring them to boil in a small pot with the lemon juice. Put it on the side and leave to draw. The longer you let the elderflowers in the lemon juice, the more they will give their unique taste. Who would like to, could even prepare the liquid on the day before and allow to infuse over night.
For the shortcrust pastry give flour, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into tiny cubes and give them, together with one egg, into the flour-mixture, knead it to a smooth pastry. Form the shortcrust pastry into a ball and let it be in the fridge in a covered bowl for 30 min.
Preheat the oven to 175°C ( Upper-/ lower heat). Grease the pie pan. Roll out the dough, a bit bigger than the form itself, on a flowered working surface. Place the shortcrust pastry in the pie pan and create an edge of 2-3 cm. Just cut overlapping dough with a knife. With help of a fork create tiny holes and bake the shortcrust pastry for 15 min.
In the meantime you can pour the lemonjuice and the blossoms through a fine sieve or cloth, collect the juice and press the remaining blossoms. Lemonjuice,-zest, honey and starch come together in one pot and are stirred. While stirring let it cook until the starch is getting thick. Take it from the stove and add the butter in pieces and stir again. Now bring the stove to middle heat. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and stir them under the lemonmixture. Bring the pot back onto the stove and let the creme become thick while stirring it for 3-5 min. It should develop to a pudding like consistency. It is important that the mixture will not cook, as otherwise the eggs will set.
Spread the lemoncreme on the prebaked shortcrust pastry and bake the pie 20 more minutes on the lowest baking tray. Before you cut it let it cool down.

For ø 26 cm

FOR THE SHORTCRUST PASTRY

150 g spelt flour

50 g wholemeal spelt flour

40 g whole cane sugar

1 organic egg (size M)

100 g cold butter

FOR THE FILLING

4 lemons (200 ml juice and zest)

10 umbels of elderflowers

125 g organic honey

4 tbsp starch

50 g butter

3 organic eggs (size M)