Recipe Corner: Lemon Freeze

This is a very simple summer dessert from Katie Stewart’s Times Cookery Book. My mother made it twice in the seventies, and the memory lingered till she finally donated one of her two copies of Katie Stewart to me a couple of years ago. It’s as good as I remembered it being.

First, line a regular 9 inch pie dish with aluminium/aluminum foil.

For the crust you need:
2 oz crushed cornflakes
2 oz castor/bakers sugar
2 oz melted butter

Stir these together then, then pack into the foil as you would a cheesecake crust.

For the ice cream filling you need:
2 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
¼ pint of heavy/double cream
Juice and rind of 2 lemons
1 oz of castor/bakers sugar

Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks with the condensed milk, then beat in the cream, and then add the lemon rind and juice gradually, beating as it thickens. If you are nervous about salmonella, do this over boiling water until it has been hot enough long enough to assuage your fears. Separately beat the whites till stiff, then add the sugar, and keep beating. Fold into the lemon mixture, pour on top of the crust, then freeze for several hours.

I find the recipe fairly forgiving – I prefer more crust, with less sugar (I double the cornflakes and the butter, but not the sugar), and find that the ice cream can take 3 lemons, for a tarter flavour.