Lemon Cream Cheese Dessert

*I had the pleasure of getting to know Jenny this past Fall at an Iowa blogger meet-up. She is kind, easy to talk too and leads an interesting life!  I mean, who milks their own goats for cheese making?  Super cool.  Check out her awesome dessert below, just in time for warm weather.

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My name is Jenny and my website is “In the Kitchen with Jenny.”   I met my husband in high school and we have been married for over 21 years.  We live on a dead end road on a farm just down the road from his family.  It’s a small community and I like that. We have two girls, Sarah, 17, and Jessica, 8.   When Sarah was just 4-1/2 months old she had a case of meningitis that left her with special needs. 13 years ago I became a stay at home mom to take care of her needs. Both of my girls are both in school so now I use my time at home to do things for my family that I wouldn’t have time to if I had a job.  We raise a garden and I can some of our foods, milk goats, and make cheese. I cook most of our meals as well as send the leftovers to school and work for lunches.

After drawing inspiration from the movie “Julie and Julia” and nudges from my friends I started the blog.  I provide step by step photos to help guide readers through a recipe.  I am a very visual person.

Lemon Cream Cheese Dessert 

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, cold
8 ounce package light cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
8 ounce container whipped topping, divided
2 - 3.4 ounce packages lemon instant pudding mix
2 3/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter.  You can also use a sturdy fork.  Pieces should be about pea size. Larger is OK, you just don't want any whole pieces of plain butter left.

Press into 8.5 x 11 inch baking dish. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until just lightly brown. Cool.  I baked mine the night before and allowed to cool over night.

Place cream cheese in a medium bowl. Beat until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat again.

 Add 1 cup whipped topping to cream cheese mixture and beat just until combined.

 Spread over cooled crust.

Combine pudding mix and milk in a medium bowl. Beat until thickened. Spread on top of cream cheese layer. ( My farm fresh goat milk was a little runnier to start but firmed up by the time we were ready to eat it.)

 I waited until our pudding was firm before topping with the remaining whipped topping.  You should be fine to add yours right away.

Chill for 2 hours or better yet all day.  I found that even a day or so later that the crust was still crispy!!

I think this would be delightful as a mini dessert. You could buy premade shortbread cookies to place in the bottom or bake the shortbread bottom of this dessert, break it up and use it instead.  Also, you could substitute your favorite flavor of pudding for the lemon. 

Thank you Jenny!