Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Use a food processor or rolling pin to crush the vanilla wafers into very fine, even crumbs. Add the melted butter and sugar and stir until everything is very well combined.
• Press the butter crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie plate and use a flat bottomed glass to compress the mixture until solid. Bake the crust for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. After baking, transfer the crust to the refrigerator to cool.
• Zest and juice the lemons. You'll need ½ cup lemon juice and 1 tablespoon zest. Slice any leftover unjuiced portions of the lemon to use as garnishes.
• Add the sweetened condensed milk to a bowl along with the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Whisk until everything is well combined.
• In a separate bowl, whip 1 cup heavy whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks.
• Add ¼ of the lemon and sweetened condensed milk mixture to the whipped cream and gently fold until combined. Repeat with ¼ of the lemon mixture at a time until all of it has been folded into the whipped cream.
• Pour the lemon cream filling into the cooled pie crust and refrigerate until completely chilled (about two hours). Slice into 8 pieces and serve.