Mama’s Limelight
Cheesecake Pie

Can you make a rich dessert with light ingredients that tastes better than it should? Of course you can, if you are Southern! My mother also tried this recipe with freshly squeezed orange juice and said it was a “delicately flavored orange whip of a pie.” If you try the orange version, add ½ teaspoon orange flavoring as well.

2 (8-ounce) packages fat-free cream cheese

3 large eggs, separated

1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

½ cup lime juice

6 tablespoons sugar

1 (9-inch) baked piecrust (page 184) or graham cracker crust

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. in the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese and egg yolks until they are creamy. Add the condensed milk and whip until fluffy. Add the lime juice and whip. in a separate glass bowl beat the egg whites with a handheld electric mixer until they begin to get stiff, and then gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat the mixture as if you were making meringue. When the sweetened egg whites begin to make stiff peaks, fold them into the lime mixture. Pour the filling into the piecrust. the crust will be very full. bake the pie for 30 minutes. Let the pie cool for 10 to 15 minutes, and then refrigerate it in a covered pie keeper (or covered with plastic wrap held up by toothpicks) until chilled, at least 30 minutes, before serving. if you don’t allow the pie to cool before you chill it, it will sweat or “weep,” creating a less attractive presentation.

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Invest in some pretty dessert dishes, a cake plate, and pie servers. All desserts taste better when they look good.