1prepared deep-dish pie shellI just prepare a frozen pie crust
Lemon filling:
1 ¼cupssugardivided
6Tbspcornstarch
½tspsalt
1 ¼cupwater
½cuplemon juice
2Tbspbutter
2tsplemon peel
4 to 5drops yellow food coloring
Cream cheese filling:
11ozof light cream cheesesoftened (use an 8 oz pkg plus 3 oz)
¾cuppowdered sugar
1 ½cupscool whip
1Tbsplemon juice
Instructions
For the lemon filling: add 3/4 of the sugar to a sauce pan with the cornstarch and salt. Whisk in the water and blend until smooth.
Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and add in the remaining sugar and lemon juice. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes until thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, lemon peel, and food coloring. Let cool to room temperature for about 1 hour.
For the cream cheese filling, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together until well blended. Then fold in the cool whip and lemon juice. Place 1/2 cup of the mixture aside in the refrigerator to use later for garnish.
Spread the cream cheese filling in the bottom of the prepared pie crust. Then top with the lemon filling to fill the pie. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
To serve, cut pie and pipe on a swirl of the reserved cream cheese mixture on each slice of pie. Serves 6-8.