Lemon Cheesecake Pie

Oh Lemon Cheesecake Pie, you had me at Lemon AND Cheesecake AND Pie.

Oh,  AND again at lemons, just so you know how much I love lemons.

The lemons have come out to play!! Can you sense that Spring is in the air and that Summer is nipping at its heels?

 I am pretty excited about this pie. I am excited that I made it. I am excited that it was pretty. I am ecstatic that I got to eat it...well not the whole pie...just a piece...or two...

When I was growing up I would pick a piece of pie over a piece of cake any day. My pie of choice was Marie Callender's Sour Cream Lemon Pie. We didn't have it often, which made it that much more special.

This isn't a knock off recipe for that pie. While I sure loved that Sour Cream Lemon Pie, it was missing two of my favorite things. That would be a good graham cracker crust and some cheesecake.

Well, don't worry (cause I know you were) this Lemon Cheesecake Pie takes care of that. Bam graham cracker crust and cheesecake meet yourselves some lemon.

Go ahead and fall in love.

I won't judge you if you lick the screen right now.

Now after you lick the screen, you probably should make the pie because the screen might look as pretty as the real thing, but it won't actually taste like pie. Just in case you didn't know that. Hehehe.

Now go get your lemon on and start enjoying nicer weather!

Lemon Cream Cheese Pie
adapted from Top Secret Recipes

crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 Tablespoons sugar

cheesecake filling:
1-8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

lemon filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
pinch salt
1 cup water
2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar in a bowl. Then press the mixture into a pie pan. Set aside.

Prepare the cheesecake filling mix by combining the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg with a mixer. Mix well until smooth. Pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes until center is set and cooked.

Let the pie cool while preparing the lemon filling.

For the lemon filling start by combining the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and water in a small saucepan. Bring it to a simmer over low heat, stirring frequently.

Whisk in egg yolk. Then add in the lemon juice and butter. Keep stirring. Once the mixture simmers immediately remove it from the heat. Pour the lemon filling over the cream cheese filling. Let the pie cool.

Once the pie is cool, chill the pie for at least 3 hours.

Serve with whipped cream.

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Cherry Chocolate Chip No Bake Cheesecakes

So it isn't a secret that I LOVE mason jars. I make an excuse to use them for everything. One of the best things to do with mason jars? That would of course be putting dessert in the jar.

Mini jars...aka jelly jars...are the best because the whole serving is just for you.

A whole dessert just for me? Yes, please.

A few weeks ago for Valentine's Day I made these itty bitty no-bake cheesecakes for the boys' teachers. They were so easy to put together AND they were really yummy.

That is a win-win in my book.

I honestly can't decided what my favorite part of this dessert was. Well, of course, besides the jar. I can't eat the jar, so that doesn't count. I love cherry pie filling. I love cheesecake. I love chocolate chips. I love graham cracker crusts.

You can see where my dilemma lies.

Basically it was all my favorite part. The Hubs especially liked the mini chocolate chips with the cherry pie filling. I may or may not have also gotten a request for this recipe from Oldest's teacher. That is how you know it is yummy right?

Well Mrs. Youknowwhoyouare (that may not be her name...just sayin'), here is the recipe for Cherry Chocolate Chip No Bake Cheesecakes just for you and for all my closest bloggy, Pinterest, Facebook friends.

Cherry Chocolate Chip No Bake Cheesecakes
makes 8-10 mini jelly jar pies

Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Cheesecake:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar
8 oz  container of cool whip, thawed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

cherry pie filling

Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar until completely mixed. Press 2-3 TBS worth into the bottom of each mason jar. Press down firmly in each jar.

To make the filling, whip the cream cheese and sugar together with a hand mixer. Beat until smooth. Next, mix in the cool whip. Fold in the mini chocolate chips with a spatula.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the mixture over the crusts in each jar. You want to make sure to leave enough room in the top of the jar to still hold the cherry filling.

Top each cheesecake with a heaping spoonful of cherry pie filling.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Serve from the refrigerator.

Enjoy, friends!!

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Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

I am a big fan of cheesecake. Big. Huge.

We had some friends over a couple of nights ago for our first Summer BBQ. Unfortunately we forgot to invite the sun, but his nemesis the clouds and rain did show up.

However, we still got our BBQ on. The hot dogs and hamburgers never stood a chance. Hubby darted in and out of the house in between rounds of checking said hot dogs and hamburgers all while it was blustery outside.

The good news is that even with all that wind, gloom, and rain we had prepared our own little bit of sunshine inside.

Sunshine in the form of refreshingly sweet and altogether Summery Key Lime Cheesecake Bars.

Seriously SO, SO yummy.

AND...I know it shouldn't always matter, BUT aren't they oh-so-pretty too?

I love pretty desserts.

Do you love pretty desserts?

Do you love cheesecake?

Well just for you then...

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
Sprinkle Bakes via Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Ingredients:

Crust-
2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
8 TBS (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling-
2 8oz pkg of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
2 TBS flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup prepared lime curd, divided

Lime curd-
8 TBS (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup plus 4 TBS fresh lime juice

yellow food coloring
green food coloring

First make the lime curd. Beat the butter and the sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer. Slowly add the eggs and the egg yolks one at a time. Pour in lime juice and mix again. The mixture will look a little curdled. Cook the mixture in a saucepan over medium until it looks smooth. Increase the heat slightly and whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Using a cooking thermometer, continue to cook until it reaches 170 degrees.

Remove the curd from the heat. Transfer the curd to a bowl and cover the curd with plastic wrap pressing it on the top to keep from the curd from getting a skin. Place in the fridge and let chill until ready to use.

Next make the crust. Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 8x10 pan with parchment paper OR spray with cooking spray. Mix the crumbs and butter and then press into the bottom of the pan. Bake crust for 5 minutes and then allow to cool.

To make the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl with mixer on medium high speed until smooth.  Beat in eggs and egg whites on low speed, 1 at a time.  Beat in sour cream and vanilla, then the flour just until blended.  Remove 1cup of batter and reserve.  Pour the rest of the batter over the crust.


Tint the 3/4 cup of lime curd (you will have extra lime curd, go ahead a store it or heck just eat it with a spoon) with the liquid food coloring until lime-rind green.  You will use a few drops of both green and yellow food coloring.  Set the lime curd aside.


Mix 1/2 cup of tinted lime curd with the 1 cup of reserved batter.  Place spoonfuls or dollops of this mixture in no particular fashion on top of the plain cheesecake batter.  Dollop the remaining 1/4 cup of lime curd  across the previous mixture.  Use skewer to swirl the mixtures together to create a marbleized effect.


Bake for 35 minutes until set. Cool completely and then refrigerate until chilled. Remove the bars from the pan with parchment over hang. Cut into bars. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Go on now, enjoy your Summer...no matter if it looks like Summer outside or not.