These cute little, luscious lemon cream cheese pies are so easy to make – even if you think your pie challenged. If you’re not a lemon lover, use your favorite fruit topping.
This year I’m cooking a Thanksgiving meal for just the four of us in a little condo in the mountains. Hopefully, we’ll have a roaring fire and lightly falling snow. I didn’t want to haul all my kitchen tools and spices with me, so I made most of the meal ahead of time. Even if you’re eating at home, preparing as much as you can the days before Thanksgiving really helps alleviate a lot of the stress.
We’re starting the day out with Overnight Pumpkin Monkey Bread with Maple Cream Cheese Icing. The dough is in the freezer, the sugar-coating is mixed and it will be easy to put together Wednesday night before we go to bed. My boys are going to love waking up to the smell of this sweet, delicious bread baking.
My husband likes a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Here’s what’s on the menu:
- Dry-Brined Turkey. I tried this recipe from the Los Angeles Times last year and it was the best turkey I’ve ever made.
- A traditional bread stuffing adapted from a recipe my sister-in-law gave me when I first got married. (I made the stuffing ahead of time and it’s in the freezer ready to be bake.)
- Mashed Potatoes and Gravy – I love my potato ricer for making really creamy mashed potatoes. I make the potatoes early and keep them warm in a crockpot with a little milk on top. Jane, This Week For Dinner, has a great post on making gravy.
- Roasted Green Beans. A Cooking Light recipe that my family loves and we make year round.
- My favorite dinner rolls. I add a little whole wheat pastry flour to my rolls so they have a little bit more texture, but they’re still light and fluffy and I think better than all white rolls. (Yesterday I made and shaped 2 dozen rolls and popped them in the freezer to thaw and bake on Thanksgiving morning.)
- I grew up eating Green Jello Cream Cheese Salad and it really wouldn’t be Thanksgiving for me without it, my kids expect it now too. (I’ll make this jello salad the day before.)
- Ocean Spray Cranberry jelly from the can because my boys and husband love it and choose it over homemade cranberry sauce .
Last Thanksgiving was the last day I spent with my sweet mom. We had a nearly perfect Thanksgiving dinner, played her favorite card game, then had dessert. I made a lemon tart because I knew how much she loved lemon desserts. Of course, she also wanted to try just a sliver of the other two pies too. I get my sweet tooth from my mom.
Mom’s favorite pie was Marie Calender’s Lemon Cream Cheese pie. So in honor of my mom this Thanksgiving I made Mini Lemon Cream Cheese pies. These could not be easier to make. I bought some mini graham cracker pie crusts at the store, mixed together a simple no bake cheese cake layer and topped them with a luscious fool-proof Lemon Curd. Of course you could also buy lemon curd if you were short on time.
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with great food, family and friends.
Ingredients
- 1 package 6 mini Graham Cracker Pie Crusts
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 cup lemon curd
Directions
- In small mixing bowl, whip heavy cream until it thickens. In medium mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, lemon juice and sugar. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Fill each pie crust 2/3 full with the cream cheese mixture. Top each pie with two tablespoons of lemon curd. Chill in the fridge for at least one hour before serving.
Notes
If you want to use a full size pie 9 inch pre-made graham cracker crust, double the recipe and chill well before serving.
More Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas:
Best Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes, Vintage Mixer
Cheesecake Pumpkin Pecan Pie, Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives
Cranberries and Cream Tart, Completely Delicious
5 Simple Thanksgiving Sides, foodie magazine
Roasted Turkey with Herb Butter & Roasted Shallots Recipe, Cookin’ Canuck
Some of the links in my posts may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Thank you for supporting Barbara Bakes when you shop!
I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
Great ideas and divine looking tartlets/pies! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Cheers,
Rosa
The mini lemon cream pies are perfect. I will have to make these…I’m not a meringue fan, so I alway make lemon cream pie. I am also checking out that dry-brine turkey. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Yes, I would love to have this type of pie for Thanksgiving. Love the Marie Callender’s one too.
And it’s portion controlled! Thanks! Have fun with your family.
Hi Barbara,
I was thinking of you this week and hoping that your have sweet memories and a sweet Thanksgiving this year. I’m sure it will be hard, but I know your Mom is watching over your family and she must be so proud!!! I know she’d love your lemon pies.
Have a great Thanksgiving Barbara. I am sure you will have lots of great memories of your mom while you are having your dinner and these little pies. I love that layer with the cream cheese and your lemon curd.
I am torn between doing the dry brine or the liquid. I am leaning towards the dry because the thought of storing a turkey in the cooler for the wet method is making me a little bit anxious.
What a wonderful recipe.
Simple, easy, and delicious. Perfect for any celebrations. Wish you and your family a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.
Amy
What a lovely tribute to your mum. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
I smiled as I read about your family wanting Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce. It’s all part of my family’s tradition for my sons to graze in the fridge looking for it when they come “back home” for Thanksgiving. Would not be Thanksgiving without it
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
~Judy
These little pies are adorable!
You’ve got to be kidding on the portion control – a dozen of the little lemon pies would be gone in minutes here
I wish you a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. And I give Thanks for all you do.
Libby
Love your blogg and your great recipes. Just wondering on the freezing the bread dough for your monkey bread and rolls, do you freeze the dough before it rises or after. Thanks.
Thanks Teresa! I let the dough rise the first time, then punch it down and shape it into rolls, then I freeze them. When I’m ready to bake them, I’ll let them thaw and rise on the counter and then bake them.
Un tour de table bien gourmand
Je te souhaite une belle journée
Valérie
Happy Thanksgiving mum! I hope to share Thanksgiving with you one day! xxx
bookmarked your recipe and will try it soon
love how elegant the pies look. i wonder if they can be done as cupcakes?
Thanks! I have made cheesecake in muffin tins using cupcake liners – http://barbarabakes.com/2010/12/lemon-and-berry-swirl-mini-cheesecakes/. Because this recipe isn’t baked, I would be sure and chill it well in the muffin tin so it holds it’s shape better. Let me know how it goes if you try it.
Those tartlets look fantastic!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mini pies are so cute!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I am a HUGE meringue fan- what is a pie without meringue may I ask you?
This pie looks so festive and beautiful (almost too good to eat- almost).
lol – I’d eat meringue if it were on the pie, but I prefer whipped cream. Thanks!
Those lemon cream cheese tarts are so beautiful and I love how simple they are, plus, since they were your Mom’s fav..it’s a fitting tribute.
I love your green jello cream cheese salad that’s expected every year. In my family, it’s the candied sweet potatoes with mountains of marshmallows, toasted, on top, and they HAVE to be bagged supermarket mini- marshmallows. I proposed a homemade marshmallow meringue, spread in a sheet on top of the potatoes, then browned..and received quite a few evil eyes lol
Finally..thank you so much for the Thanksgiving idea mention! Have a Wonderful, Delicious, Happy and Safe Thanksgiving, Barb!
What a wonderful little pie! I have a bunch of lemons and I was thinking about your curd. Now I’ll be thinking about these pies too.
Have a great Thanksgiving, you’ll be on my mind.
I bet it’s so nice to have the meal done ahead of time, so you can just enjoy the day! These look so delicious – wish I had them on my Thanksgiving table! I hope you have a wonderful holiday!
Oh girl, please post pics of the condo in the woods with snow falling!
Very happy Thanksgiving to you, and for our mutual love of lemon
I hope you have a fabulous time in Park City and can celebrate your family and the many years and holidays that you were able to share with your sweet, sweet-tooth, mom
much love, Becky
I love the look of this dessert and I wish you and your family a lovely Thanksgiving in your cozy condo in the mountains blessed by warm and happy memories of your Mom.
Wonderful, Barbara! I’m like your dear mother, and I love every lemon dessert. These mini ones look fantastic! So does the monkey bread and every delicious dish mentioned here… I’m drooling…
Happy Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful time in the mountains!
Barbara these look amazing! I love all with lemon! hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving:)
Your pie just looks so beautiful. It is sad since I have no time to serve this on thanksgiving. It just looks so delicious and I would love to serve this at any day.
looks cute and yummy…happy thanksgiving
It sounds as though you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. These little pies (no bake – yay!) are so pretty and absolutely perfect for the holidays.
I truly think these look amazing!
I followed your suggestion and made one 9-inch pie for Thanksgiving. It was so yummy and everyone loved it! I also used your perfect pie crust recipe for a couple of other pies. Delicious!!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
You must’ve a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Those cream cheese pies look so inviting!
What a lovely dinner, Barbara! And those little tarts are perfect. Love anything lemon and the simpler to make, the better.
Your Thanksgiving menu sounds absolutely delicious! Hope you had a great Holiday with your family!
Those Lemon No Bakes look amazing. We’ll be trying those soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I am a lemon-aholic! Why have I not seen this post before now? Holy amazing!!
I have some leftover store-bought lemon curd in the fridge. This looks like a perfect way to use it up. Thanks!
These look so delicious! I love, love lemon and I love, love cheesecake! Perfect, pretty and easy! Will make these for sure! Going to check out your other lemon goodies!