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Ken's Lemon Cheesecake!

  

This cheesecake is a light and delicious dessert that doesn't even require baking.  For those who don't care for really rich and heavy desserts or really dense cheesecakes, this will do the trick.  It is so refreshing and good after all of the heavy holiday desserts we have been eating.  I have always loved this version of cheesecake.  I love the little zingy lemon flavor.

This recipe was given to me by a family friend, Ken.  We have known him and his wife for years.  We attended the same church when I was just a teenager and they and my parents have remained friends for all of these years. They are just some of the best people you would ever want to know. 

Actually, I didn't even have to make this recipe myself, because Ken made it for me and took us all out to lunch and then back to their house for dessert.  How sweet was that?  He also made a really good pie that I will share with you at another time. 

His wife, Dora, is one of those people who is so organized it's amazing to me.  She had binders filled with recipes she had gotten through the years and allowed me to go through them and copy any I might be interested in.  

These are tried and true recipes she has gotten over the last fifty or so years from mostly excellent Kentucky cooks.  Many were handwritten copies.    I will be making these and posting them in the next few weeks. 

The best recipes I come across, besides those that my own family have enjoyed for years, come from going to the people who cook them, sitting down and visiting and discussing them and browsing their collections of recipe treasures.  It also makes the recipes more special to me, because when someone gives you their recipe in the south, it really is an honor. 

 Some cooks are a little funny about just giving the recipes they get the raves over out like that.  Obviously I am not one of those people...lol.  Fortunately, my friends and family are not like that either.  They are just mostly generous beyond belief.

 If you have good cooks in your family or among your friends and they have recipe collections, ask them sometime to share them with you.  Get those family recipes written down also.  

I can't tell you how many folks write to me and try to describe a dish or dessert their mother or grandmother or father made and they never got the recipe.  Now, they are gone and the recipe went with them.  It is so rewarding to me when they can recreate similar recipes from our site here, but it would be even better if they had the original. 

 One of my motivations for starting this blog was to get our family recipes all written down in one spot so that, hopefully, our children and future grandchildren will have them.  Well enough of my rambling...on to the cheesecake recipe. 


 Here is what you will need:

1  3 oz. pkg. lemon gelatin
1  cup boiling water
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1  12 oz. can evaporated milk, chilled
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)


Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add lemon juice.  Allow to cool.  Cream together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.   Add gelatin and mix well.  Whip the evaporated milk and fold into the gelatin mixture.

Mix graham cracker crumbs with butter, reserving 1/3 cup for topping.  Press into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9"x13" dish.  Pour in filling.  Sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top.  Chill for 3-4 hours before serving.



Ken's Lemon Cheesecake!


36 comments:

  1. OMG this is the same cheesecake my late mother-in-law used to make and its to die for! Thank you Kathy (and Ken) for the memory!

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  2. OMG, my Mom made this exact cheesecake. Absolutely DELISH. Thank you for bring this to everyone!!!

    Nancy

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  3. Oh my gosh! This sounds delish. I'll be making it soon!

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  4. This my husband Mom's recipe that she has been making for years so very yummy...

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  5. My Mom would make this! Brings back memories!!

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  6. Do you know if it's fresh, squeezed lemon juice, or the fake kind in the green bottle?LOL!

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  7. this is so good! Back in the early 80's an elderly neighbor made this and gave me some, along with the recipe

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  8. HI. This cake looks great. I will make it soon. Just have to figure out the mesures for my country.
    Have a great day.
    Greetings from Kathy Ann in Norrway :-)

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  9. I used to make this dessert all the time for my three children and my husband except we use lime gelatin and they call it keylime pie. I remember eating this same cake in elementary school and believe me that was alot of years ago. Thanks for the memories!!!

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  10. This is the recipe that used to be on the Milnot evaporated milk can! I used cool whip and leave out the cup of sugar.

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  11. Did you put the cool whip in the mix in place of the sugar??

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  12. This was great! It's a keeper. Thank you!

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  13. This was great! It's a keeper. Thank you!

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  14. how many does this feed! I could for the honor guard and i want to try this recipe and the banana split cake recipe for them but my guys can really put away the sweets!

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    1. 1 only me :/ I forgot to share. This was a very wonderful recipe. Gonna have to make it again.

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  15. Has anyone tried this recipe? Does it taste the same as the old Milnot recipe? I have a hard time finding Milnot where I live. It would be so much easier to find evaporated milk!

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    1. You can order Milnot on line. Just do a google search for Milnot and it should pop right up. You can order it and have it sent directly to your house. Love that Milnot cheese cake, only one my grandmother ever made!

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  16. My Grandmother made this !!!!

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  17. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us. I'm probably the biggest cheesecake fan there is. I can honestly say I have never eaten a lemon one before, but I can't wait to make this one. Keep those recipes coming! :-)

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  18. Is lemon gelatin just the lemon jello pack?

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    1. No, that J-ello is already chilled and gelatinous that comes in a four pack. You need the box of powdered J-ello that you mix with water.

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  19. Made this in the 60's as a teen. It is still my favorite summertime dessert after all these years.

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  20. It's just as good without the vanilla and lemon juice. Made it years ago, too.

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  21. I have been searching for years for this, my late mother-in-law used to make it and no one had the recipe. Thank you!

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  22. This is very similar if not THE recipe that used to be served at the old Woolworth "soda" fountains with all the neat twirling stools. Ate this there many, many times. then, years later my mother came upon the recipe.

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  23. I love this. My Mom always made this in the summer and was the best treat ever. Thanks for the memories.. making this weekend for my party!!

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  24. Can u use othet flavors if u dont like lemon?

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    1. Orange is delicious! That's how my grandmother made hers!!! Yum!!!

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  25. Same recipe my mom made here too. Always one of my favorite summertime desserts, and we would take it with us to potlucks. Thanks for the memories.

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  26. This is really a delight to eat on a hot summer day. However, PLEASE have your evaporated milk very cold and put your beaters and bowl in the freezer to get good and cold. Also, you can put the evaporated milk in a metal bowl and put that in the freezer until you see it starting to turn icy around the edges. If you do not have everything cold it will not whip up good like whipped cream and you surely don't want that to happen. Yum!

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  27. So, are you supposed to mix the gelatin mixture and the cream cheese mixture with an electric mixer? I don't see how it would work very well using just a fork/spoon. Also, the photo shows two separate layers of white and yellow. Does this dessert separate as it cools, or is part of the recipe missing? Thank you.

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    1. Yes, it's best to use an electric mixer for this to whip enough air into the milk. You mix the gelatin cream cheese mixture and then whip the milk separately and then incorporate it all together. This is not two layers. I think the picture just looks that way because of a shadow.

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  28. Do I "whip the evaporated milk" with a wire whisk or an electric mixer until peaks form, like with whipping cream?

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    1. It won't be stiff peaks, but yes use an electric mixer to beat it until light and airy.

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  29. My Mother and Grandmother used to make this when I was young. It was the only kind of cheesecake I ever had until I was married!

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