My brother has asked me to make an old favorite for his birthday: no-bake cheese cake.
The recipe used to be on the box of lemon pudding mix, but no longer. And repeated searching thru google has failed to turn up the right recipe. The one we used to make has only a few ingredients, including instant lemon pudding, cream cheese, milk, and a graham cracker crust, possibly some lemon juice – it’s the proportions that I don’t know.
I am sure it didn’t call for condensed milk and/or Cool Whip, which the only recipes I’ve found all seem to.
Does anyone happen to have this recipe stored away?
(I know it’s a long-shot, but this IS the source of ALL knowledge, right?)
Unfortunately, I’m not familar with the recipe you are looking for. However, if you know the brand of the pudding box the recipe used to be on, you could try writting or calling their company’s marking department (company contact info should be somewhere on the box) and asking if a copy of the recipe could be sent to you. Many companies are happy to satisfy such requests.
I found this recipe, I’m not sure if it’s the right one or not.It sure looks good though
No bake lemon cheescake
Ingredients
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1 (3 ounce) package lemon flavored gelatin mix
1 cup boiling water
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
Directions
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and confectioners’ sugar. Mix well and press into the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Turn off oven.
2 Dissolve lemon gelatin in boiling water. Let cool until thick, but not set. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, white sugar and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
3 In a separate bowl, whip evaporated milk until thick and stiff peaks form. Pour in lemon gelatin and keep mixing until well blended. Fold in cream cheese mixture.
4 Pour filling into crust. Chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.
Aha! Had an inspiration, and contacted old friends of my mother’s, figuring, same generation, maybe same recipes…and one of them came through.
Just in case anyone wants to try:
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Cool & Easy Lemon Cherry Cheesecake
Need a dessert in a pinch that’s quick and easy and doesn’t heat up your kitchen? This is it, prep time includes chilling.
1 prepared graham cracker pie crust (or use your favourite recipe)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 3/4 cups milk
1 package instant lemon pudding mix
1 can cherry pie filling
Using an electric mixter, mix the cream cheese, milk and pudding mix until thickened and smooth.
Pour mixture into pie crust and refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Spread cherry pie filling evenly over top of pie and refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving.
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Objectively, it’s not at all like a genuine cheesecake in texture, but it really does taste good, and for something only requires 5 minutes to mix up, I’ll cut it some slack.
Here’s one I’ve been making since I was a teenager. It’s a lift from a very old Sunset magazine recipe. When you’re up to speed on this recipe, it can be cranked out in fifteen minutes flat. Double Cream Cherry Pie Easy Cheesecake Adaptation
Preparation time: 25 Minutes
Serves: 8 People Ingredients:
1 21 oz Can of Comstock Ruby Red Cherry pie filling
1 8 oz Brick of cream cheese
1 8 oz Carton of heavy whipping cream
1 Tsp Lemon juice
1 Graham cracker pie crust
¼ Cup Powdered sugar
½ Tsp Vanilla extract
¼ Tsp Almond extract Preparation:
Bring the cream cheese to room temperature while chilling the bowl and beaters for whipping the cream. In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese, some of the vanilla, powdered sugar and lemon juice and use the back of a wooden spoon to cream all ingredients into a smooth paste. In a separate bowl whip the cream to half stiff, where the peaks just barely hold. Just before finishing whipping the cream, beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
Very slowly add some of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture. It is best to coat the wooden spoon in the whipped cream and mix that small amount into the cream cheese for at least three or four times. After that, slowly increase the amount of whipped cream to a few tablespoons at a time. This will help avoid lumping in the finished product.
Once the double cream mixture is finished, open the pie crust and gently spoon the mixture into the center of the shell. Carefully spread out the double cream until it is evenly distributed in the shell with a slight dome at the center. Open the tin of cherries and use a fork to scoop them out. The fork will allow you to leave behind the extra glaze that will otherwise overflow the pie shell. Starting at the center, evenly place the cherries on top of the double cream working towards the edges.
If needed, fill any gaps in the top surface of the pie with some of the extra glaze that is left over from the tin of cherries. Once the entire surface of the pie is covered with the fruit, take the clear cover of the shell, remove the label and invert it over the pie. Crimp the foil edges to retain the cover and chill for another 30-45 minutes before serving. The cover will help the pie to avoid picking up any other food odors in the refrigerator and assists when transporting it as well.
Addenda: There are new “buttercrust” pie shells and other flavors besides Graham cracker that can add some zing to the pie. If you make the pie a day ahead of time, the shell will draw out some moisture from the double cream filling and make it much more dense. It becomes almost indistinguishable from a real baked cheesecake. Note: Chill the cherries beforehand if time is of the essence. This will reduce the time to table. Other types of fruit may be used. The blueberry filling works well for those who are not fond of cherries.
And repeated searching thru google has failed to turn up the right recipe. The one we used to make has only a few ingredients, including instant lemon pudding, cream cheese, milk, and a graham cracker crust, possibly some lemon juice – it’s the proportions that I don’t know.