I Tried the Duncan Hines Dessert Reddit Is Obsessed With—It’s Delicious

Thanks to Reddit, I found a recipe for lemon chiffon pie written by the original Duncan Hines (the man, not the brand) that couldn't be easier and more delicious.

Jul 30, 2024 - 16:00
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I Tried the Duncan Hines Dessert Reddit Is Obsessed With—It’s Delicious
Duncan Hines Lemon Chiffon Pie
Simply Recipes / Meghan Splawn

I am a professional recipe developer who trained as a pastry chef, so when a recipe gets rave reviews and simplifies an otherwise tricky dessert, it catches my attention. That’s how I became obsessed with a lemon chiffon pie recipe. 

Lemon chiffon pie sounds like the kind of dessert that should be left to professional pastry chefs. This pie is tall and airy yet has a creamy, sweet-tart filling that cuts into impossibly gorgeous slices.

Thanks to Redditors on /Oldrecipes, I found a recipe for it written by the original Duncan Hines (the man, not the brand) that couldn't be easier and more delicious.

Hines was a traveling salesman who became a food columnist through his travels before he lent his name to the flour brand that would become famous for its cake mixes. In a newspaper clipping—the Redditor states it is from 1948—Hines shared a recipe for lemon chiffon pie. In the headnotes, he claimed he “drove 100 miles off my path” to eat this pie at Stone’s Restaurant in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Ingredients to make Duncan Hines lemon chiffon pie
Simply Recipes / Meghan Splawn

The whole recipe is barely 100 words, has no step-by-step instructions, and the filling is just five ingredients: eggs, lemons, sugar, gelatin, and water. (The instructions do call for a baked pie shell.) It seems Hines trusted his reader to know how to use a double boiler and what it means to cook egg yolks, lemon juice, and sugar to a custard-like consistency—he wasted no words.

But Hines was right in assuming his readers' abilities—this pie recipe is so simple to make. The whole process—from grating the lemons and separating eggs to whipping the egg whites and filling the pie shell—took me just 35 minutes. Waiting two hours for the pie to set in the fridge might be the hardest part of making it.

Duncan Hines lemon chiffon pie
Simply Recipes / Meghan Splawn

My Tips for Making Duncan Hines's Lemon Chiffon Pie

If you try Duncan Hines's recipe for lemon chiffon pie, here are a few of my expert tips:

  • Get a medium pot of one to two inches of water to a simmer before you prepare ingredients so your double boiler will be ready when you are. 
  • Separate the eggs and put the whites in a large mixing bowl and the yolks in a medium one. Later, you’ll fold the yolk mixture into the whites, and you’ll be glad for the larger space to do so.
  • You’ll need two large lemons for the 1/2 cup juice but don’t forget to zest one first before you slice and squeeze them. A cut lemon is difficult to zest.
  • The pie crust you choose is totally up to you! I went with a prepared graham cracker crust for ease and loved how its slightly salty caramel notes mixed with the lemon chiffon filling. Make sure your pie shell is baked and cooled before you make the filling.

Despite any doubt I had about the lack of directions, the pie turned out perfectly. The filling sat tall above the pie crust and sliced beautifully into gorgeous pale yellow triangles just begging for a dollop of whipped cream. I’m already making up reasons to make this pie again.