Lemon Cheesecake Pie

My great-grandmother was a fantastic cook and baker. Sadly, after she died, my grandfather threw out all of her wonderful recipes. (She made the best Christmas cookies. I still think about them every December.)

Anyway...

In the past, my mom has mentioned how much she liked a cheesecake pie my great-grandmother used to make. According to my mom, it was "probably made with Philadelphia cream cheese" and it "had a faint lemon taste" to it. That's about all I know. Pretty vague, but I get the point. Simple and basic everyday ingredients are always in style and usually produce darn-good recipes (dern-good if you're from the south). I looked through a few of my cookbooks and searched online for any lemon-flavored cheesecake pie recipes (or anything remotely similar), but most of the recipes I came across either used a box of powdered lemon pudding mix (ewww!!!) or incorporated Cool Whip (gag!!!) to make a fluffy refrigerator pie. After a little bit of culinary thought and experimentation, I combined ingredients and tweaked measurements from three different recipes to come up with the concoction below. I can't wait to make it for my mom when she comes out west in October to visit me. (Sadly, I won't see her again before then.) I'm curious to see if it tastes remotely close to what my great-grandmother used to make for her when she was growing up.

It's cool, creamy and delicious with a slight lemon taste.

In any case, I'm sending this virtual pie to my mom in celebration of Mother's Day on Sunday.

Lemon Cheesecake Pie

2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (8 oz.) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup fat-free evaporated milk
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
One 9-inch graham cracker crust, baked and cooled*

In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs until thick and light yellow, about 3 minutes. Add sugar and flour, beating until well-blended. Pour the egg mixture into a small bowl and set aside.

In the same bowl used to beat the eggs, beat cream cheese with a small amount of the evaporated milk until smooth.

Add remaining evaporated milk, lemon juice and lemon peel; beat until smooth and well-blended. Pour egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture; beat just until blended.

Pour mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. Bake at 325 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least four hours (or overnight). Let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.

* To make a graham cracker crust, combine 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Press into a 9-inch glass pie pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 8-9 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on wire rack before filling.