Lemon Lush has layers of lemon pudding, cream filling and shortbread crust. Yum!
Lemon Screams Spring Dessert
This Lemon Lush dessert is a perfect name for this luscious, lemon dessert. It would be a great dessert for Mother’s day or any Spring gathering. Although, I know Lemon Lush sounds like it might be the name for someone that drinks too much Limoncello! I love the combination for this dessert – shortbread crust and pretty layers of lemon flavored cream cheese, lemon pudding and rich creamy topping. Easy & Yummy. Your Comments, Likes and Shares are always appreciated!
This lemon dessert recipe gets even simpler if you use frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip.) But the Mascarpone/whipped cream topping is totally worth the effort, in my book. Mascarpone (which is an Italian style cream cheese) can typically be found in the deli cheese section of a larger grocery store. It adds body, richness and stability to freshly whipped cream. The concept of combining freshly whipped cream with Mascarpone also allows you to to make the whipped cream in advance, without the last minute fuss. In fact, it keeps well in the fridge for a few days. I am a proud daughter of Wisconsin, the dairy state. So whenever the choice is between a 100% nondairy topping vs. real whip cream, my loyalty lies with the cows!
Love Lemon Dessert?
Try some of these other great lemon desserts from ItsThyme2Cook!
Lemon Lush
Ingredients
Bars
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup butter softened and cut into pieces
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 packages 3.4 ounce each instant lemon pudding mix
- 3 1/2 cups whole milk
Mascarpone/Whip Cream Topping (select either this option or the frozen whipped topping, not both)
- 8 ounces Mascarpone cheese
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Frozen Whipped Topping
- 12 ounce container frozen whipped topping thawed
Instructions
Bars
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine the flour and butter using a pastry cutter until a ball forms. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish (I recommend a glass dish.) Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and well blended. Spread evenly over the cooled crust.
- In another bowl whisk together the lemon pudding mix and milk for 5 minutes. Spread over the cream cheese layer. Chill until set (can be made 1 day in advance.)
Mascarpone/Whip Cream Topping
- Up to several hours in advance – In large bowl, whisk Mascarpone briefly to lighten the texture. In a separate bowl, beat the whip cream until fairly firm peaks form, adding 2 tablespoons powdered sugar toward last part of the whipping process. Gently fold the whip cream into the whisked Mascarpone, until well combined and creamy. Top lemon dessert with topping.
Frozen Whipped Topping
- Skip Mascarpone/Whipped Cream step above and top the dessert with thawed whipped topping prior to serving.
I made this for the first time for Easter and it was a huge hit. We all loved the lemon flavor and its pretty simple to make. This will be added to my favorite dessert recipe collection.
Excellent… love the lemon flavor!