Spring has finally arrived (at least that’s what the calendar says)! It’s time to bring our taste buds out of hibernation and put our winter favorites on the back burner in favor of fresh spring flavors. Nothing says spring more than the taste of lemon. Fabulously versatile, lemons create a zesty, fresh flavor perfect for some spring zing.
I believe Lemon Meringue Pie entered the mainstream culture in the 1940’s and remained popular through the 50′ and 60’s. It was definitely one of those desserts that most men of that time, including my dad, just loved.
In doing a little research on the subject, it seems in 1951, the Sunkist lemon producers came up with a ‘new idea’. It was a Lemon Cheesecake pie in a graham wafer crust. It was advertised to be quick, easy, inexpensive as well as delicious!
In March of 1959, the Family Circle magazine published a recipe for a Lemon ‘Pudding’ Cheesecake pie. This version required no cooking and basically had only about four ingredients. The idea appears to have been one from ‘General Foods’ using their Jell-o Instant Lemon Pudding mix. It hardly seems it could be much easier than that.
In the spring of 2004, I saw a recipe on kraftcanada.com for a more current remake of this recipe. Of course it takes longer to make and uses twice the amount of ingredients but sounded real good.
Just for fun, I decided to make the 1959 version with the addition of some lemon zest for a more vibrant lemon flavor.
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- 1 1/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup margarine, melted
- 250 grams cream cheese,
- 99 grams Jell-o instant pudding mix
- 2 cups whole milk
- zest of 2 lemons
- yellow food color (optional)
Ingredients
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- In a bowl, combine graham crumbs, sugar & melted margarine. Mix well. Reserve 1/4 cup of mixture for topping. Press remainder on bottom & up sides of an 8-inch pie pan or spread evenly on the bottom of an 8-inch spring form pan.
- In a bowl, soften cream cheese, blend with 1/2 cup milk. Add remaining milk, lemon zest & pudding powder mix. Beat on low, just until well mixed, about 1 minute (do not overbeat). Pour filling into graham crust. Sprinkle top with remaining 1/4 of crumbs. Chill at least 1 hour.
- Just a little side note -- On April 16, 2016 I had published a blog which featured a No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake. It was one of the first cheesecakes my mother made. It used lemon jell-o powder and was extremely light tasting. We loved it!
- I tried making the filling with 1% milk & light cream cheese as well as adding some food color to brighten it up, all adjustments worked out real good. Definitely made it a guilt-free dessert!