While a native Floridian may not think twice about an orange pie, out here in Utah it’s virtually unheard of. Shortly after we started dating, Wade and I decided to have a date night at Barnes & Noble to browse through some books. We both naturally gravitated toward the cookbook section, and it wasn’t long before Wade had settled down with a book all about pies. He came across a recipe for orange pie and was convinced we should try it out that very week.

We were both shocked by how much we liked orange pie. It essentially resembled one of our favorite pies - key lime - but with oranges instead of limes. The recipe suggested a crust made out of crushed animal crackers, but we’ve both loved our idea of the Vanilla Wafers crust, which pairs so perfectly with the orange custard.

Since that first time making orange pie, we’ve made and remade the recipe, tweaking it to our preferences, and we really think we have a recipe worth trying. We've made it for family dinners, pie parties, double dates, and more... with excellent reviews from every place we've shared it at!

We love making this pie in the summer especially because it’s such a refreshing treat! It’s cool and tart, making for the perfect dessert after a hot day. The bright color also feels so summery!!

WHAT YOU’LL LOVE ABOUT THIS RECIPE

♡ It’s sooo SUMMERY :) I mean, what’s better than a cool, refreshing orange pie on a hot summer day??

♡ It’s TART and SWEET! The filling isn’t overwhelmingly sweet, thanks to plenty of lemon juice and lemon zest that complement the sweetened condensed milk. It’s so perfect!

♡ Texture combo… the custard is a smooth and heavenly blend of yumminess… paired with the crunchy vanilla wafer crust… YUMMM!

SERVING IDEAS

Chantilly Cream… it sounds really fancy, but it’s just a sweeter, vanilla version of whipped cream! Pairs so well with the vanilla wafer crust!! You can check out this recipe from All Recipes if you're interested.

Garnish with fresh orange slices and / or orange zest ♡

Vanilla ice cream!

STORAGE

The best way we’ve found to store orange pie leftovers is to cover the pie dish with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator! The pie crust starts getting soggy after about two days… as with all pies, it tastes best the day you make it :)

ORANGE PIE INGREDIENTS

- Orange Juice Concentrate: The source of that delicious orange flavor! This can be purchased from the frozen section of most grocery stores. Or if you’re like us, you’ll already have it on hand just in case you might NEED some orange julius around 10 pm!

- Orange Zest: Finely grated orange peel that brings both color and flavor to the dish

- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed for best taste

- Lemon Zest: Finely grated lemon peel that offers a delicious lemon flavor without relying wholly on the lemon juice

- Sweetened Condensed Milk: Who else wants to take a spoon and eat it all every time you open a can of sweetened condensed milk?

- Egg Yolks: If you’ve never separated eggs yolks from the egg whites, check out this article from Simply Recipes

- Salt: You’ll only need a pinch of salt to bring out the flavors of the filling!

- Vanilla Wafers: Also called Nilla Wafers… can be purchased right off Amazon here at this link. A delicious, crunchy, vanilla biscuit cookie that you’re sure to love if you haven’t tried it already. I’m definitely guilty of sitting down and eating the rest of the box of cookies after measuring out exactly what I’ll need for my pie crust.

- Salted Butter: Binds together the crushed vanilla wafers and adds some extra flavor (gotta love butter for that). If you decide to use unsalted butter, you’ll want to add a pinch of salt to the crust

- Sugar: Added sweetness for the crust

HOW TO…

Begin by measuring out 6 ounces of Vanilla Wafers (I do this using my Greater Goods Digital Kitchen Scale from Amazon. Transfer the Vanilla Wafers to a large ziplock bag and seal shut after getting most of the air out of the bag.

Proceed to smash the vanilla wafers with a rolling pin, until the cookies are left mostly crushed. I’ve also done this step using my Vitamix Blender. It works great either way, but if you crush the Vanilla Wafers in a blender, it will be a finer powder and more consistent sized chunks of cookie.

Pour the crushed Vanilla Wafer cookies into a mixing bowl, along with 5 tablespoons of melted butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Mix well. The resulting mixture will be very crumbly, but have just enough butter to stick together when pressed.

Add the Vanilla Wafer crust mixture to a pie pan. Press the mixture in and coat the bottom and sides of the pan evenly. This can be accomplished with either a fork or your hand.

Bake the crust at 325 degrees F for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. While the pie crust is cooling, you can begin mixing up the pie filling.

Add the orange juice concentrate, the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, orange juice, and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat on high until the mixture is well-combined.

Pour the mixture into the cooled pie crust and return the pie to the oven. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15-17 minutes. The pie will still wiggle slightly when shaken, but it will continue to set up as it cools. Allow the pie to cool for 40-60 minutes on the counter before transferring it to the refrigerator.

Refrigerate the pie for 3 hours before serving. Serve with chantilly cream, orange zest, vanilla ice cream, and / or orange slices. Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

Directions: