It's starting to feel like Spring around here, so how about a nice lemony dessert? Er, sort of. This Lemon Lush doesn't contain any actual lemons, but rather a box of instant lemon pudding, Cool Whip and cream cheese. In other words, it's my husband's favorite type of dessert.
The recipe is called Lemon Lush and the original source is Allrecipes.com. However, I might have missed it if I hadn't seen it in a sample their new magazine which came bundled with the latest issue of Family Circle.
UPDATE: I've made this many times since posting. I usually halve the recipe and bake it in an 8 inch square dish, but when making for a group of people I go with the full version (below).
Dr. Oetker's Lemon Pie Filling Substitute
These days I no longer use instant lemon pudding. Instead, I use Dr. Oetker's Lemon Pie Filling which is a bit more tart and lemon-y. If you can't find Dr. Oetker's, you can still use the instant lemon pudding mix as written in the notes section.
Recipe
Lemon Lush from All Recipes Magazine
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 sticks 8 oz salted butter, softened (or use unsalted and add ¾ tsp salt)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 9 oz
Filling
- 1 box Dr. Oetker’s Lemon Pie Filling mix plus ingredients on package egg yolks & water**
- 2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar or to taste
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F . Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray or grease with butter.
- In a medium bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the sugar. Add the flour and stir until well mixed. Press into bottom of pan and bake on center rack for 20 minutes or until it appears set. Be careful not to over bake or the crust will be hard.
- Meanwhile, prepare the Dr. Oetker's lemon pie filling as per the directions. Set aside and allow it to cool completely.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and well blended. Spread evenly over the cooled crust.
- Spread the cooled lemon pie filling mixture over the cream cheese mixture.
- Whip the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form, then stir in the vanilla. Spread or pipe over the lemon pie filling.
- Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
Anna
Okay, I'll try tomorrow. Was going to do it today, but didn't make it to the store.
julie
please let me know! the graham does sound better then the sugar cookie- lighter-. if you like how the crust works out your way I will give that a go!
Anna
I hate the term "white sugar" for that reason.
I'm going to make it again the same way, but add a little bit of sugar to the crust.
Your idea of using graham cracker crust is great! I think that would be better than the sugar cookie dough. The sugar cookie dough might be a tad *too* sweet. Or it might be okay. I don't know. But I'm going to make this again and add a small amount of sugar to the bottom layer. Will report back!
julie
Thanks! The "white" sugar threw me 🙂 I prefer granulated and a thicker crust(and a sweeter crust). I might try a sugar cookie dough. i made some great choc chip cheesecake bars using cookie dough which was basically the same cream cheese mixture but no pudding, dough crumbles on top and a short time in the oven- came out nice. I am also going to try the chocolate pudding and the cookies and cream pudding. I might give a graham crust a try too, especially since I live in phoenix and it is a million degrees and I really want to avoid the oven. 🙂 Thanks again!
Anna
Hmm, now you've got me wanting to try that other version just for comparison's sake. The older version, the one everyone's grandma makes, must be this one.
http://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-lush-dessert-140151
The crust is much thinner and it uses 2 cups confectioners' sugar instead of 1 cup of "white" sugar. I may pick up the ingredients and make it this afternoon to compare.
Anna
Hi Julie,
No problem! To answer your question, I used granulated. This recipe was new to me at the time, so I didn't make any real changes other than to halve it and do what the allrecipes.com version told me to do. And as far as I know, "white sugar" has always meant "granulated". I went looking for the versions you saw with the confectioners' sugar and most of them had different proportions. For instance, the ones that called for confectioners' sugar used double the amount. So if you DO prefer granulated over confectioners sugar, you should feel safe using this version and sticking with the 1/2 cup.
My worry when making this was that the crust wouldn't be good since it doesn't have any sugar, but Todd liked it the way it was. I noticed some reviewers on allrecipes.com added a little sugar to the crust.
Julie
Oops was that me with the bad email? Sorry, temperamental iPod. Hope 2nd times the charm.... I had the question about the granulated vs. powdered sugar. If you decided to use granulated, typo or the all recipe version you had called for granulated? I find powdered too sweet but I want to make it right since it looks great. I'm also going to try a chocolate version. Thanks!
Anna
When leaving comments, please leave a valid email address if you'd like a reply. Thanks!
Anna
Thanks Lori! It's Venetian Gold.
Lori
Love Love Love your granite counter top
T. Martin
What makes this Todd's favorite type of dessert? The Cool Whip, the cream cheese or the pudding? Or the combination of all three?
Anyway, looks like a good dessert for the height of summer when one doesn't want to turn on the stove if you swapped out the crust in the recipe for a graham cracker crust.
Katrina
I got that new Allrecipes mini-mag, too. Looks like it will be a good one.
Carol G
My Aunt used to make lemon lush. It was always a big hit!
Sue
I've received two of those, and admittedly I haven't looked very closely at them. I was sort of taken by the photo on the front cover. I can't remember why I passed on that and looked further. I hope Todd liked the dessert!
Lisa Ernst
Yummy!
gloria
I love Allrecipes. My banana brownie recipe which you helped me with is a published recipe out there. This dessert looks refreshing and easy to make. Plus it is pretty with the different layers. And in regards to the comment about Todd being lucky, I second that. How does he and how do you stay in shape (assuming you are not both 400 pounds by now) with all the dessert-making goin' on?
Todd
Yes I am! 🙂
Kate @ Only Cake Pops
If you ever need a tasting assistant ... 🙂
Holiday Baker Man
Todd is a lucky man!