At the risk of sounding like a food snob, this Lemon Cream Cheese Pake (Pie/Cake) , as I like to call it, breaks every one of my rules for recipes. Some of the ingredients are boxed rather than homemade and as delicious as it is, this dessert isn’t exactly a healthy option, though there could be worse.
What I love most about this dessert are the unique layers that build upon the others for a full palatal experience with every bite. A cream cheese filling sits on top of a buttery walnut crust, then layered with a cream cheese filling, a sour lemon filling, and decadent pudding filling, and topped with fresh cool whip. This dessert puts boxed ingredients in an entire new category of delicious.
My Mother loved to make desserts. She was the queen of dessert making in my family and every single dessert she made was delicious. Many of her recipes were passed down from her mother, like her Homemade Apple Pie, and her Old Fashioned Molasses Cake from 1942. This Lemon Cream Cheese dessert was one she had been making for at least 35 years and was a childhood favorite of mine. Thanks, Mom. I miss you!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you’ve made it please share it with me by tagging @culinarybutterfly on Pinterest.
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| Servings |
pieces
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- 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cold butter, sliced into small pieces
- 1 8 ounce cream cheese
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 2.9 ounce boxes lemon jello pudding
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 4 egg yolks, beaten
- 2 3.4 ounce boxes vanilla instant pudding
- 2 cups cold milk
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 16 ounce cool whip
Ingredients
Crust
Cream Cheese Filling
Lemon Filling
Vanilla Filling
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- Preheat the oven to 350 ° F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and nuts with a wood spoon. Using your hands, cut in the cold butter until the butter resembles course crumbles. Massage any remaining chunks of butter into the crust.
- Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and press the crust into the bottom of the pan. Bake 4 to 5 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and confectioners sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Carefully spread the filling over crust once crust has cooled.
- In a medium saucepan, stir the pudding mix, sugar, 1/2 cup water, and egg yolks over medium-high heat until blended. Stir in the remaining water and bring to a full boil, stirring continously. Transfer the lemon filling to a bowl and refrigerate to cool. Gently spread the lemon filling over the cream cheese filling.
- Using a hand mixer, beat the milk and vanilla pudding together for 2 minutes before adding in the vanilla. Fold in half of the whip cream and refrigerate until cool. Spread over lemon filling.
- Spread remaining cool whip over the top of the dessert and serve.
Idea!
Garnish with chopped nuts, toasted coconut, or fresh fruit.
Recipe by Lorraine Soldo for www.culinarybutterfly.com