Marie Callender's Style Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

I made a lemon cream cheese pie recently for dessert for a dinner party and it went over really well. I used a recipe I found in one of Todd Wilbur’s “Super Secret” copycat cookbooks (I love all of his cookbooks, by the way, and highly recommend them!). This is a copycat version of Marie Callender’s lemon cream cheese pie (a favorite of mine when I used to live in California, where the restaurant chain is quite popular!). I did do a few things differently from Todd Wilbur’s recipe. I added extra sugar (I thought the lemon filling was too sour if I went by the cookbook) and twice as much lemon juice (otherwise, I didn’t hardly taste enough lemon). I also used my own graham cracker crust recipe, and I garnished the pie with whipped cream. Here’s the recipe:

Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/ 3 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 T. light brown sugar
Dash salt

Cream cheese filling:
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
1 large egg

Lemon filling:
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 T. cornstarch (heaping)
Dash salt
1 cup filtered water
2 large egg yolks
4 T. lemon juice
1 T. butter

Whipped cream topping:
1 cup heavy cream
2 T. powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
Optional: 1 packet whipped cream stabilizer

Combine the crust ingredients together and pat into an 8-inch pie plate. Refrigerate until ready to fill. Next, prepare the cream cheese filling layer. Beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar together until smooth. Add the vanilla and egg, and mix until fluffy. Pour the filling into the crust and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes (filling should be set and will appear “poofy.”). Remove pie from oven. Let it set for about 10-15 minutes at room temperature. While it is setting, it will “poof down” a bit. During this time, make the lemon filling.

Prepare the lemon filling by mixing together the first four lemon filling ingredients together in a small saucepan. Cook over a low heat and bring to a simmer, stirring continuously. It will thicken up slightly. After it does, whisk in egg yolks, lemon juice and butter. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture simmers again. Pour the filling over cream cheese filling and refrigerate several hours until cold and set. Finally, beat the four whipped cream topping ingredients together, and pipe onto top of pie (or just spread on top). Refrigerate until serving. This recipe can be made up until one day in advance.

Enjoy!
~Becky