1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
3 egg yolks
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 9-inch graham cracker crust**
whipped cream or topping as desired

*Optional for meringue topping:
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

**You may use purchased graham graham cracker pie crust or make your own, or homemade or bought regular pie crust, or vanilla wafer crust. If using homemade or bought regular pie crust, prebake it as directed in your recipe or on the package.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine lemon juice and grated peel, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk. Beat with mixer on medium speed until well combined, about 1 or 2 minutes. Pour into prepared crust, cover and chill for several hours or overnight before serving.

OR: After pouring into crust, you may bake in a preheated 325* oven for 20 minutes, until set around the edges but still jiggly in the center. At this point you may cover with meringue and proceed as directed to brown the meringue, or cool on a wire rack then cover and chill for several hours or overnight before serving.

Serve with whipped cream or you may use the 3 egg whites left over from the egg yolks and make meringue topping.

*For meringue: Preheat broiler on high. Using clean beaters and bowl, beat egg whites with 2 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla on medium high speed until stiff peaks form. Cover top of pie filling all the way to the edges of the crust. You can go all fancy and decorative or as plain as you like. Place pan on cookie sheet and place under broiler, watching closely. Brown the top to your liking, then cool on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.

The original recipe does not call for baking the pie filling at all, so it does contain raw eggs. If you are leery about consuming raw eggs, and understandably so, you may bake the filling. It tastes the same but the filling has a firmer texture, which some may prefer. I'll take it any way I can get it.

Keep any leftovers refrigerated.