Ramblings

Grandma’s Cheesecake Recipe

My grandmother’s no-bake lemon or lime refrigerator cheesecake, plus a less-sweet variation of my own made with heavy whipping cream.

Published 3 min readPermalink
Celebrían the elf and Nugget the blue slime in chef’s hats and purple aprons, proudly holding a cheesecake topped with berries and dripping red sauce.

Prelude

I have a vivid fondness for the no-bake lemon and lime refrigerator cheesecake my grandmother (rest her soul) used to make.

The recipe is straightforward and delicious, and, like all good secret family recipes, the original most likely came off the lid of a Keebler Ready Crust graham pie crust or the inside of a Philadelphia Cream Cheese box. Such was the nature of things before the internet.

The original recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 package (8 oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
  • 1 can (14 oz) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
  • ⅓ cup lemon or lime juice
  • 1 Keebler Ready Crust graham pie crust

Instructions

  1. Using a mixer, blend the cream cheese until smooth.
    • Go slow to avoid splatter. The cream cheese is sticky and will wrap around the beaters.
  2. Add the sweetened condensed milk and blend until smooth.
  3. Add the lemon or lime juice and blend until smooth.
    • The mixture thickens as you mix, a bit like buttercream frosting. Don’t over-mix, and scrape the sides of the bowl to avoid lumps.
  4. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
  5. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, or until set.

If you want to get fancy, add whipped cream, cherry pie filling, or other toppings before serving. I like it plain myself, but we did cherry pie filling one year and it wasn’t bad.

My variation

While the original recipe is straightforward and quite delicious, the condensed milk is a bit on the sweet side for me, so I make a few small changes.

You can find unsweetened condensed milk (evaporated milk) as a drop-in replacement, but it isn’t as common as the sweetened kind where I live, hence the following tweaks.

Substitutions

  • Halve the sweetened condensed milk: 7 oz rather than 14 oz.
  • Make up the difference with heavy whipping cream. 7 oz would do it, but I usually use 1 to 2 cups (about 8 to 16 oz) and mix longer to make it thicker.

Instructions

  1. Follow the original instructions, but add the heavy whipping cream after the sweetened condensed milk and before the lemon or lime juice.
  2. Mix until smooth, letting the cream thicken as it mixes.
    • Aim for a thicker consistency than the original. Heavy cream sets up differently in the refrigerator than sweetened condensed milk, so whipping it to a good, thick density is the key to this substitution.

You can adjust the amount of cream to suit your taste or preferred thickness, and adjust the lemon or lime juice to balance the flavor. I recommend making the original recipe first, though: heavy whipping cream can be a bit tricky to work with, especially when you are trying to match the thickness and consistency of the original.

Other flavors

You can also use this recipe as a base for flavors other than lemon and lime, such as orange or grape. Most citrus pairs well with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. (I have heard rumors that Mike’s Hard Lemonade works too, though I have never tried it myself.)

If you try other flavors, look for concentrated juice or flavoring, because juice straight from the fruit will be too watery; you may need to reduce it by simmering first. It is also worth picking up some extra cream cheese to thicken the mixture, since heavy whipping cream only goes so far once you add more liquid to boost the flavor.

Enjoy!