Leader food writer Kathleen Brotherton is offering website readers one stellar recipe a week in the “My Leader Yummy” feature.
I guess I’m showing I’m “old as dirt” when I talk about the days before instant pudding mixes and how if you wanted a bowl of banana pudding, you had to cook vanilla pudding the old-fashioned way and then add sliced bananas. Of course you didn’t add them until you were ready to serve the pudding, or you’d end up with brown bananas after the dish sat in the refrigerator a few hours. When my mom made the dish, she always decorated the top with vanilla wafers.
I’ll never forget when instant pudding mixes were invented when I was a kid. Mom was willing to try anything new and since we had our own cows and a good supply of milk most of the time, this was a new way to use any extra milk. Mom had an electric mixer by the time the instant puddings became popular, but she always insisted I use the old-fashioned “egg beater,” as it was called. You had to wind it by hand and the pudding instructions said you had to count to 60 as you beat it. The first time I made it the pudding was still “soupy” when I finished beating it, and I thought I’d ruined it. What a surprise when a few minutes later it had thickened all by itself!
Back then, the instant pudding came in just three flavors: vanilla, chocolate and butterscotch. Today, you can find so many flavors, and the desserts you can make with the mixes are endless!
The following recipe uses instant lemon pudding mix and it makes such a light and delicious pie for special summer occasions or for refreshing family desserts on hot summer evenings.
Looking for a recipe you can’t find? Email me at kbrotherton42@gmail.com and I’ll see if I have it.
LIGHT AND LUSCIOUS LEMON PIE
1 cup flour
1 stick butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
3 cups milk
2 packages instant lemon pudding mix
1 container Cool Whip
Mix flour, butter and nuts. Pat in the bottom of a greased 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until brown, approximately 20 minutes.
Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Gradually add 3 cups milk. Add lemon pudding mixes and beat on LOW for 2 minutes. Let stand until it thickens.
Pour mixture over baked crust. Top with Cool Whip. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator. Makes 12 servings.
