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.
No Bake Mini Lemon Cream Cheese Pies and Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
Ingredients
- 1 package 6 mini Graham Cracker Pie Crusts
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 4 ounce cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ cup [lemon curd]
Instructions
- 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 ⅔ 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
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
Maggie
Awesome!
Kim
How far in advance do u think I can make these pies? Or do u think it needs to be made same day?
Melissa Griffiths
The day before is just fine!