Creamy Lemon Dessert and Family History

Lemon, cream cheese, and cool whip combined into one old fashioned dessert makes for a delicious treat anytime of year.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my daughter was currently fascinated with our family history. She has had so much fun going through all the stuff that came from my grandma.

One of the things that she found was a stack of newsletters that came from a family member that lived in Ohio. First of all I had no clue I had family members in Ohio. I thought most of my grandma’s family was English Canadian, but apparently not all of them. Many of them came from the Ohio and Pennsylvania area.

And when I say related it might be a bit of a stretch. Yes, we are related, but I think it goes back like five or six generations. Or something like that. Anyway, at some point my grandma and one of these distant relatives in Ohio exchanged some letters and information.

One of the things they exchanged were some family newsletters. These newsletters were so fun to read. I felt like I was going back in time reading all about family picnics, family reunions, and who had celebrated weddings and 50th anniversaries.

I kind of longed to have a family newsletter of my own to stay in touch with family and friends, but then I realized that blogging and social media has become what family newsletters used to be.

We still keep in touch, just in different ways. Handwritten letters and family newsletters, typed with old typewriters on carbon paper, have been replaced by Facebook, Instagram, and websites. We still find ways to connect with each other.

One of the things I loved about the family newsletters that my daughter found were the recipes that they contained. The recipes shared varied from what were called family favorites to recipes that had been brought to family reunions.

One of the recipes that caught my attention was a recipe called Cousin Betty Molyneux’s Lemon Dessert. I have no clue who Cousin Betty Molyneux was or how she was related to me, but apparently she was known for her lemon dessert. And since I love anything lemon, I am guessing I would have liked cousin Betty.

As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I needed to make it. In my opinion anything with lemon, cream cheese, and cool whip has to be good. And it was. It was delicious. Thank you cousin Betty!

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Yield: 18 servings

Creamy Lemon Dessert and Family History

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Creamy Lemon Dessert is an old fashioned classic family dessert.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Additional Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups flour ( I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 gf flour blend)
• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup butter

Filling

• 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 can lemon pie filling

Topping

• 1 - 8 ounce container cool whip

Instructions

For the Crust

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a bowl combine 1 1/2 cups flour and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar.
3. Cut in butter until it forms a crumbly mixture. Press into a 9x13 pan.
4. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool completely.
   

For the Filling and Topping

1. In a bowl mix together powdered sugar and cream cheese.
2. Beat until well mixed and smooth.
3. Spread over cooled crust.
4. Spread lemon filling over cream cheese layer.
5. Spread cool whip over lemon filling.
6. Refrigerate for several hours to chill.
7. Cut into squares and serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

18 servings

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 126mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 0gSugar: 14gProtein: 3g