Thursday, January 10, 2013

Tastefully Simple Lime Cheesecake... With a Ruthy Twist!

Talk about painless and delicious!

I bought a package of Key Lime Dip mix at that lovely Tastefully Simple party I went to in the fall....

I love lime. Just love it. But I don't like most Key Lime things because the ratio of graham cracker and lime is wrong.  Mind you, I know that's a personal thing, because clearly the rest of the world thinks it's RIGHT....

Umm...

Not me.

I like light lime and pastry, so here's what I did on Sunday because I needed something baked and had no time:

I patted sugar cookie dough into the bottom of a 10" souffle pan.... Or you can use a glass pie dish, or Corning Ware... glass works better because you don't end up with any metallic aftertaste.

Mmm... lime and aluminum....Not so much.

:)


When I make cookie dough I usually make a double batch (or more) and freeze some. So I pulled out a package of dough, patted it into the pan and baked it at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. You can use the Pillsbury refrigerated dough at the grocery store. Or you can crush cookies to make a traditional crushed cookie crust (like a graham cracker crust only with shortbread cookies instead of crackers.)


That's it. That's your ingredient list right there in that pic! A tub of Cool Whip, an 8 oz. package of cream cheese and a box of the Key Lime mix....  (the recipe on the back calls for a graham cracker crust, but I've already revealed my inborn prejudice about lime X graham... so the cookie crust was a great alternative!


Mix the softened cream cheese and the lime mix together. Fold in Cool Whip.


Pile into cooled pie shell/cookie crust, etc.


It's missing a garnish. I was working on revisions and a new proposal though, so I didn't wait to garnish it. I'm not even sure what you should garnish it with... Lime slices to throw away? That seems wasteful. I like garnishes that get eaten... Share ideas if you have any because it really needs something not to look so plain....

BECAUSE IT WAS MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH wonderfully good to eat.

The only thing I'd do different is make the cookie crust a little thinner... and then watch to make sure it doesn't get over-cooked. I had about 3/8" to 1/2" of dough in the pan. When it rose, it became like a 3/4" crust... A little thick, right?  But it was tender and had that great Mary's Sugar Cookie taste, just marvelous.


12 comments:

  1. WAHHHHHH!!!

    Why must you torture me so??

    Key lime pie, fine.

    Key lime pie with cream cheese and whipped topping, I'm tearing up.

    Key lime pie with cream cheese and whipped topping and sugar cookie crust, I'm sobbing into my keyboard after licking the screen.

    So, how can I make this without the key lime mix? Any ideas?

    And we eat limes here.

    Or, actually feed them to the little kids to watch their faces. Although they wise up pretty quickly so we have to keep finding new victims.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know,I've been wondering the same thing. What about making a lime pie filling (about two cups worth....)

      and then cooling that, adding it to softened cream cheese, then fold in whipped topping or whipped cream.

      So like this:

      3/4 cup sugar
      1/4 cup cornstarch

      Mix those together

      Add in 2 cups water

      Bring to boil. Stir half of hot mixture into two beaten egg yolks.... Mix that back into mix in pan (this way eggs don't cook or curdle) and bring back to boil for one minute. Add in 1/3 cup lime juice... 2 Tablespoons butter. Stir.

      Cool/chill.

      I bet that would work well.

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  2. YUM!!! I wonder if you can find something like that mix at the grocery store? Do you know what's in it??

    LOL, Virginia! Your comment about finding new victims cracked me up! Such a loving family. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heehee! We're not above luring in small neighborhood children.

      First the pie, then the lime!

      Delete
    2. And then there are cousins, right? They're always good to use for things like this :)

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    3. Hey, remember the stir that Amy caused in Little Women about the limes? And I always wondered what foolish little girls would suck on a lime?????

      Oh.

      Ugh.

      But that was the thing, right? Teenage girls are the craziest creatures on the planet. Those witch trials?????

      Teenage girls.

      Oy.

      Delete
  3. BTW, I'm a HUGE graham cracker crust fan. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Missy, me too... with some things. I love a graham cracker crust with a pumpkin ice cream filling.... And with some pudding fillings. And with cheesecake although I like it thin, New York Cheesecake style. But not with the lime. The two together don't work for me, but I'm the exception. Otherwise the world would have seen the error of its ways and made key lime pie with something else! This would also work well with a pastry crust (regular pie crust) and I think it would be marvelous in a puff pastry crust. The problem with that is that they don't cut well.

      We should make Baklava soon. Have I done that here???

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  4. I'm with you on the lime and graham thing, Ruthy. Chocolate and graham, YES! Lime and graham? Not so much.

    I don't have any idea for a garnish.

    Wait! I know! Sliced kiwi!

    And if it's summer, use sliced strawberries and mint leaves!

    I'm going to have to look for that mix in our stores...




























































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  5. Okay...I'm wiping the drool of my keyboard again. I love a good key lime pie, not a fan of thick graham cracker crusts. I like your idea, Ruthy, about using shortbread cookies. I might have to try that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mindy, you'd laugh at my freezer. Random plastic tubs and freezer bags filled with crumbs. Cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, chocolate crumbs, cookie crumbs.... These are such fun things to throw into a recipe and add texture or flavor. Especially in summer when things get stale or soft quick in the humidity... I crumb them in the processor and put them in the freezer. That way they don't get wasted and I have them on hand and don't have to haul out the rolling pin and/or the food processor to make crumbs. I also store frozen crumbs for different chicken dishes, fish, etc. It makes my life easier to do double and freeze half. And I'm glad I'm not alone with the graham cracker lime thing! Yayayayaya!

      Delete
  6. Oh, Jan, the kiwi would do it!!!! How pretty would that be, if you did Kiwi twists in the center around a whipped cream star????? Oh, I love that!

    ReplyDelete