Marie Callender's Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

RecipeNut's Note:

(http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

Crust

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg

Lemon Filling

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 dash salt
• 1 cup water
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and sugar in a small bowl.
3. Press the crust mixture into an 8-inch pie pan.
4. Prepare the cream cheese filling by mixing cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla and an egg using an electric mixer.
5. Mix well until smooth.
6. Pour cream cheese filling into graham cracker crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until center is cooked.
7. A knife stuck in the middle of the filling should come out mostly clean.
8. As the pie cools, make the lemon filling by combining 1/2 cup sugar with cornstarch, salt and water in a small saucepan.
9. Set mixture over low heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often.
10. Whisk in egg yolks, then add lemon juice and butter.
11. When mixture simmers again remove it immediately from the heat.
12. Pour the lemon filling over the cream cheese filling, and let the pie cool.
13. When cool, chill pie in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.
14. Slice into 6 pieces to serve restaurant-size portions.

Reviews

[Carrie Ann]

The textures and flavours of the light lemoney custard combined with the dense richness of the cheese cake in this recipe was a wonderful treat for the tastebuds. I served it incircled with fresh raspberry sauce and garnished with raspberries. Delicious.

[Citruholic]

This is a great recipe. But I tweaked it a little bit. First, I baked it all in a dark, non-stick springform pan, flattening out the crust and moving it up the sides a bit (1/4" or so), but still not making the bottom crust too thin. I did lower the oven temp to 325 because of the dark pan, and checked for doneness around 25 minutes. It was ready in 30 minutes. I also added lemon oil extract (1/4 tsp.) to the cheesecake mixture as I felt it needed more lemon flavor. It was spot on. I suppose if you didn't have lemon oil you could use lemon extract or even zest. I didn't bother with lemon juice in the cheesecake as I wasn't sure adding that much liquid would be wise as it might affect it's ability to set up. The only other thing I did was before I added the yolks to the simmering sugar/cornstarch/water mixture that I tempered the yolks with a little of the simmering mixture and then added them. I whisked constantly until it was nice and thick and back up to simmering. I will say it took more than low heat to get that mixture up to a good simmer. So don't be shy about raising the heat. Keep it at a simmer, don't go to a boil. Just small, popping bubbles. Next time around I will probably add some fresh lemon zest to the top layer to give you that "zing" in the glands you get from lemon, even when it's sweet. A great recipe, very versatile. I think it would probably be really wonderful as one person wrote who used lemon cookies as the crust. That would REALLY pump up the lemon flavor for those of us "citruholics". :-) All in all a beautiful presentation out of the springform pan. Much more elegant than serving up a piece of a wedge-shaped pie.

[Mullingal]

absolutely fantastic pie!!!!! raves all around. after making this a handful of times and realizing that most folks thought it wasnt lemony enough, i figured it out... use 4 Tblsp of lemon juice. perfect amount of lemon in our opinion. also, BEST whipped cream topping is #74805 Never Weep Whipped Cream. worked out fantastic and holds for a day or two so you can make the pie ahead of time. the pie taste better the next day in our opinion anyway! thank you for this fab recipe.