Easy No Bake Lemon Dessert

What makes this dessert work

• Easy to make: as I said before, this is just a matter of opening packages and mixing. Not much science here, and definitely no oven, so it's perfect for hot summer days!
• Flavor: lemon and it's berry season, so if a lemon icebox dessert was good on its own, with raspberries (or any berry you like, they all go very well with lemon) it just goes up a few steps.
• Freezing: this no-bake lemon dessert is even better almost frozen, taken 20 minutes before you want to serve it. So you can make it and leave it in the freezer until you need it. It works also if you want to serve it in cups or glasses, as I did (image above). Just remember to take it out half an hour to 45 minutes to let it soften enough to put it into the glasses, but not so much that it loses that very cold quality.
• Serves a crowd: this is the perfect dessert to serve to a large party of people. The lemon cream comes together in no time and you can use any flavor of cookie you like. So double or triple it easily. Use red and blue berries for a 4th of July party.

Ingredients

• Lemons: use fresh lemon juice and freshly grated lemon zest.
• Condensed milk: the regular type, don't use low fat.
• Cream cheese: the regular full-fat cheese will give you richer results.
• Heavy cream: full fat regular. Don't use light or low-fat cream
• Cookie layer: I use plain ones such as graham crackers or vanilla wafers. But you can use golden Oreos also. I find they're too dense and sweet but know many who don't.
• Vanilla - I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works.

Two ways of serving this dessert:

Glasses or bowls:

use individual goblets, bowls, or wine glasses to serve it trifle-style. Layers of berries, broken cookies, and lemon cream (images below). I like to use berries at the bottom and top.

Icebox cake:

Layer this dessert in a nice ceramic dish, one that you can take to the table.

Again, simply layer cookies, berries, and cheesecake mixture (images below). I like to layer cookies and lemon cream and then scatter berries on top. That way they don't turn mushy. But you can totally add a layer of fresh berries in between. It works better with fresh fruit than frozen, as was my case today.

Top tips

• Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
• Flavor combinations: you can use whatever cookie flavor and fruit you like with lemon (like with fruit crumbles). Today I used vanilla cookies and raspberries. Sometimes I use coconut cookies and blueberries. For a 4th of July party, use raspberries or strawberries and blueberries. And a combination that I like a lot is chocolate cookies, lemon cream, and strawberries. It's surprisingly good.
• Refrigeration: either way you serve it, this dessert needs refrigeration to set and moisten the cookies. Pretty much like no-bake cheesecakes. Even if you're going to freeze it, refrigerate it for 6-8 hours before to achieve a creamier consistency.
• Freezing it: this is a wonderful dessert to have frozen at all times. I personally like to eat it half-frozen, but even if you like it to thaw more, having a frozen icebox cake can save you from any dessert emergency.
• Make-ahead: you can have the lemon cream waiting in the fridge, well covered in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days before assembling the dessert.
• Topping: if you want a creamier dessert, you can top it with fresh whipped cream, or a purchased whipped topping like cool whip.