You'll want to use really fresh lemons in this recipe. You'll get more juice from ripe, but not TOO ripe. *If you use Meyer lemons, you may want to use 6 or 7 instead of 5 because I find Meyer lemons don't have as much juice as a regular lemon does. Original recipe by Paula Jones for CallMePMc.com
Slice the lemons as thin as you can get them. I use a food processor. Don't worry about seeds or the peeling your going to strain everything.
Place lemon slices with peeling and seeds in a large bowl and add 2 cups sugar. Cover and allow to stand 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Stir occasionally. I refrigerate after 2 hours if I'm not making it right then.
*Prepare pie crust now if you're making a homemade crust.
Allow eggs and sugar mixture to come to room temperature before mixing pie ingredients.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepake pie crust 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool while you mix the filling ingredients.
Strain the lemons. Using the back of a spatula, press as much liquid through the strainer as possible. You'll have about 2 cups of a sweet lemon flavored simple syrup. (You can discard the peel, pulp and seeds at this point.)
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs until light and foamy. They'll become a lighter yellow.
Add lemon sugar mixture to bowl with eggs and beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
Pour into prepared pie crust.
Bake at 375 degrees 35 to 40 minutes until center is set, top of pie is golden and crust is browned.
Allow to cool before slicing. Store pie in refrigerator up to 1 week.