Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

I found a recipe on Pinterest that I wanted to try for a Lemonade Cream Cheese Pie, but when I went to make it, I tried the batter before adding it to the pie pan and was NOT impressed. It still tasted like cream cheese, with a hint of lemon, and I'm not sure about you, but eating a big spoonful of cream cheese does not sound appetizing to me. The only lemon flavoring added in the original recipe was a packet of instant lemon pudding and some lemonade concentrate.

So off I went to try to inject some more flavor into this guy. I ended up not using the lemonade concentrate, but instead added homemade lemon curd and fresh lemon juice and zest. I put the recipe for homemade lemon curd at the bottom of the page, but store-bought works just as well. It ended up being quite tasty and even pretty to look at!

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Servings: 8-12

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 4 hrs 30 min

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

• 1 5oz can evaporated milk

• 1 3.4oz box of instant lemon pudding mix

• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened

• 1 large lemon

• 1/3 cup lemon curd

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 inch pie dish.

2. For the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup sugar, and melted butter in a bowl. Press graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the pie dish with your hand or the back of a spoon. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on the stove for 10 minutes before placing in the refrigerator to cool further.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine lemon pudding mix and evaporated milk. Mixture will be very thick.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese for about 3 minutes. Add 2/3 cup sugar, the lemon pudding mixture, the juice of the lemon, and the lemon curd. Mix on low for about 1 more minute.

5. Pour mixture into the cooled pie dish. Top with lemon zest and let set in the refrigerator at least 4 hours before serving.

Lemon Curd

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 lemons

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1/4 cup butter, softened

• 4 eggs

• Pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Zest the lemons and mix with the sugar. Put the lemon zest/sugar mixture in a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds to make sure the zest is well incorporated.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar/lemon zest mixture. Reduce mixer speed to low, add the eggs, one at a time, the the juice of your three lemons and salt. Mix for another minute.

3. Pour mixture in a medium size saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes). Make sure you are stirring constantly. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat and allow the curd to cool for at least 20 minutes before you place in an airtight container and transfer to the refrigerator.