This Lemon Lush Dessert is a light, sunny and refreshing recipe for spring and summer dining. Layers of cream cheese, lemon pie filling, and whipped cream are framed by a lovely graham almond crust and roasted almond slices on top.
Our recipe is a nice fresh change from the traditional lemon lush dessert you may have seen. For another easy dessert, you may love our Banana Icebox Cake too!! Or our Lemon Shortbread Cookies are delicious!!
Instead of a pecan shortbread crust which is traditional with a lemon lush dessert and sometimes too hard to cut with a fork, I wanted to keep that lovely creamy, easy forkful to go all the way through. We added ground almonds to the graham crackers, which I love to do for extra flavor, and then topped the dessert with more almond flavor from adding toasted almonds to the top.
I am sure you will agree that this recipe is magnificent.
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Is Lemon Lush a No-Bake Dessert?
Unfortunately, Lemon Lush desserts are not a no-bake recipe, but they almost are. The only thing that needs to be baked is the crust on the bottom, and it takes a very short time too. Only 15-20 minutes.
After the crust is baked, the sliced almonds can go into the oven for a few minutes to toast, and then that is it for baking. The rest is done on the stovetop or cooling in the refrigerator.
Is Lemon Lush a good make-ahead dessert? It sure is! This dessert can be made the morning of and served for dessert that night. It actually lasts days in the refrigerator and may even taste better as time goes on.
I have also heard this dessert being called a Lemon Lasagna because of all of its wonderful layers.
What Goes into a Lemon Lush Dessert?
Another difference that we made besides the crust was to use lemon pie filling instead of lemon curd or lemon pudding. I love how this stands up much better to slicing than the pudding or curd would.
And lastly, in this lemon lush recipe, we used real whipping cream instead of a whipped topping like Cool Whip that you would normally see.
All these little changes have made a great lemon lush dessert recipe.
Ingredients
Crust Layer
Graham cracker crumbs
Finely ground almond
Butter, melted
Cream Cheese Layer
Cream cheese (softened at room temperature)
Icing sugar or Confectioners sugar
Lemon Layer
Lemon (meringue) pie filling, not pudding
Topping
Whipping cream
Icing sugar or Confectioners sugar
Sliced almond (optional)
Lemon zest (optional)
How To Make Lemon Lush
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix the graham cracker crumbs and ground almonds together. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine. If using graham crackers, then give them a whirl in a food processor first, along with the ground almonds.
Press into an ungreased 9 x13 inch baking dish using the bottom of a measuring cup to help press it into the pan and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool.
In a stand mixer or using a hand electric mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and creamy. Gently spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cooled crust.
Prepare the lemon pie filling as per the package instructions. Once cooked, pour over the cream cheese layer and spread it out evenly. Cover with saran wrap.
Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before topping with the whipped cream. If any condensation appears on the top of the filling, take a paper towel and gently remove it.
Meanwhile, place the mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for 30 minutes, then add the whipping cream and icing sugar to the bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread the whipping cream evenly over the lemon layer, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.
If desired, lightly toast the sliced almonds and sprinkle over top of the whipping cream and serve.
Additional Toppings
If you like to make a recipe your own, here are some sweet suggestions for additional toppings!
- lemon zest or orange zest
- crushed pecans
- strawberries
- blueberries
- toasted coconut
- crushed vanilla Oreos
Can You Freeze Lemon Lush Dessert?
To be honest, I haven’t tried to freeze this dessert. I would be very hesitant with using real whipped cream on top of the pie filling as it may get watery when thawing.
If you want really clean slices, you can chill it in the freezer for a couple of hours and then slice.
If you are using a whipped topping like Cool Whip, you may have a good result in freezing it, but again I have never tried. Why? There is never any leftover to put into the freezer. This dessert recipe disappears very quickly.
Blueberry Delight
Another recipe that is fairly similar to our Lemon Lush Dessert is this Blueberry Delight or also known as Blueberry Lush.
This recipe also has a graham cracker crust and stays more traditional with pecans in the crust and a whipped topping to finish with. It still has a lovely layer of cream cheese and scrumptious blueberry pie filling.
And More Summer Desserts
Here is our Lemon Blueberry Trifle that is also so perfect for spring and summer. Nothing screams more than lemons for freshness, and so many of us love this flavor at this time of year and love the flavor combination of blueberries and lemon.
Additionally, here are some of our other favorite desserts to make and share.
Something that is similar but doesn’t have the cream cheese layer is this amazing Chocolate Pudding Pie. Made with the chocolate lover in mind.
If you really want to impress, this stunning White Chocolate Raspberry Tiramisu will have everyone turning heads. It is a take on the classic but is made fresh and wonderful for summer.
Lemon Meringue Pie is another classic recipe, but sometimes people have issues with either the lemon pie filling or the meringue. Let us help you with both of those to make the perfect summer pie.
This dessert would be perfect for a spring or summer birthday as it is pretty in pink!! Pink Lemonade Cake is another show stopper for an easy sheet-pan cake using a cake mix. It doesn’t get easier than this yet so gorgeous too.
Lastly, this Orange Creamsicle Poke Cake is one of our most popular desserts and is perfect at any time of the year for orange lovers but really is wonderful in the summertime.
Pin it HERE!!
Pin it HERE!!
Lemon Lush Dessert
Ingredients
Crust Layer
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup finely ground almonds
- ½ cup butter melted
Cream Cheese Layer
- 2 – 8 oz packages cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 1 cup icing sugar confectioner’s sugar
Lemon Layer
- 1 – 7.5 oz package of lemon meringue pie filling or a package that makes one pie filling not pudding
Topping
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream
- ½ cup icing sugar
- ½ cup sliced almond optional
- Lemon zest optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix the graham cracker crumbs and ground almonds together. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine. If using graham crackers, then give them a whirl in a food processor first, along with the ground almonds.
- Press into an ungreased 9 x13 inch baking dish using the bottom of a measuring cup to help press it into the pan and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- In a stand mixer of using a hand electric mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and creamy. Gently spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cooled crust.
- Prepare the lemon pie filling as per the package instructions. Once cooked, pour over the cream cheese layer and spread it out evenly. Cover with saran wrap.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before topping with the whipped cream. If any condensation appears on the top of the filling, take a paper towel and gently remove it.
- Meanwhile, place the mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for 30 minutes, then add the whipping cream and icing sugar to the bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Spread the whipping cream evenly over the lemon layer, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.
- If desired, lightly toast the sliced almonds and sprinkle over top of the whipping cream and serve. You could also dust the top with fine lemon zest if you desire.
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