Ingredients
- 1 cookie pie base
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 8-ounce packs of cream cheese (room temp)
- 1 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- or 1.25 cups of whipped cream in place of the condensed milk
- 5 to 6 tablespoons of melted butter, if you are making the base from scratch (not in the original notebook, step 1 makes the base with melted butter but it is absent from his ingredient list)
Equipment. 9 inch pie dish or springform tin
Method
- Make the cookie base with melted butter
- Beat the cream cheese with the condensed milk or cream
- Add the lemon juice and vanilla
- Refrigerate overnight
Does it set without gelatin?
Yes. The acid in the lemon juice reacts with the milk proteins in the condensed milk, and the cold firms the fat. Two 8 ounce packs of cream cheese to one 14 ounce tin of condensed milk needs nothing added.
Four hours in the fridge is the floor.
Can you use whipped cream instead?
Yes, but the method changes. Whip a cup and a quarter of cream to stiff peaks on its own. Fold it into the beaten cream cheese rather than beating them together.
Add half to three quarters of a cup of icing sugar, since the condensed milk was carrying the sugar. Keep the lemon juice for flavour and firmness.
The result is softer, closer to a mousse, and it wants a full overnight chill.
How do you keep the filling smooth?
Beat the cream cheese on its own for three or four minutes, until no lump is left in it. Any grain you can still see then will still be there at the end.
Use full-fat block cream cheese at room temperature. The whipped and spreadable tubs carry too much water and will not set.
For the base, use a cup and a half of cookie crumbs to 5 or 6 tablespoons of melted butter, plus 2 tablespoons of sugar. Press it in and chill it while you make the filling.