I love cheesecake! But truthfully I never had real cheesecake until I was an adult at a work party.
About two Christmases ago The Deer Hunter asked for a chocolate cheesecake. I thought I’m finally going to make a real cheesecake. I bought a spring form pan and searched for the perfect recipe. The chocolate cheesecake was delicious. Everyone loved it.
Since then I’ve made several types of baked cheesecakes and we’ve enjoyed them all, but my favorite is the faux cheesecake I grew up eating: Granny’s no bake cheesecake.
Granny’s No Bake Cheese Cake
- 9 inch graham cracker pie crust (you can make your own or pick up one at the store)
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh or store bought)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
To keep the crust from getting soggy I brush it with a beaten egg or egg white and bake for 5 to 7 minutes at 375 degrees before filling.
Mix cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla, and condensed milk till smooth, pour into pie crust, and chill until firm.
Most any kind of fruit goes especially nice with no bake cheese cake as does a tall glass of cold milk.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
32 Comments
Melissa Davis
March 4, 2022 at 11:12 pmThe 1st time I ever had “real” cheesecake I told them they was crazy because that’s not cheesecake.
My mom has the same recipe that has been past down. My mom always would put hers in the freezer because that’ what her Grandma. would do. It’s perfect treat for Hot summer days.
My mom’s family is from in or around Sumner County I think I’m in the process of searching my G Grandmas maternal side the Dixons & my G Grandpa side the Sircy’s
Jan
August 9, 2021 at 12:12 pmThis is the same basic recipe that’s been handed down in our family (western Nebraska). We called it cheesecake too, and like you, I didn’t realize what “real” cheesecake was until I was an adult. We put ours in a 9 x 13 pan. Our recipe includes a graham cracker crust, maybe folks would call it a crumble, but it is also no-bake. We put pie filling over the top.
I’m amazed at some of the similarities in our heritages, even though as far as I know, we didn’t have ancestors from Appalachia – or if we did, it’s been many, many generations ago.
Renee Wittenberg
August 6, 2021 at 2:00 pmi’m making this for my mom today. when i came across your recipe i told her about it & shes been wanting it ever since. my mother is almost 80 with a sweet tooth that can’t be rivaled by any other! i try to make her a sweet treat each day. shes very ill so i spoil her with her sweets. if she so desires i would serve her dessert for breakfast, lunch & supper! i started to follow you on you tube & have so enjoyed your channel. i love hearing your stories & have recently started watching your lovely daughters as well. thank you for sharing a glimpse of life in Appalachia.
Tipper
August 6, 2021 at 2:02 pmRenee-I hope your sweet mother enjoys it! So glad to hear you enjoy what we do 🙂
Tim
June 13, 2021 at 3:05 pmMade it. Delicious. Reached full flavor after sitting in the refrigerator over night.
Larry
June 1, 2021 at 8:27 pmHello
I’ve made your no bake cheesecake a couple of times and I think it is great and so easy to make! Now I would like to turn it into a CHOCOLATE no bake cheesecake. Obviously, I know I need choclolate but how would you go about it exactly and how much chocolate would you put in? Thanks.
Larry
June 19, 2021 at 11:25 pmWell I gave it a shot and I left out the lemon juice and added a cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate morsels and made a chocolate no bake cheesecake. Big mistake! It was basically just a runny chocolate pudding and not a very good chocolate pudding. Lesson learned.
Larry
June 23, 2021 at 1:48 pmWell I tried making this into a chocolate no bake cheesecake using a cup of melted semi-sweet morsels and it was big mistake in my opinion. ‘Basically turned the pie into a runny chocolate pudding that wasn’t very good. Lesson learned. I’m ready to once again enjoy the taste of the standard recipe.
Christa
September 29, 2021 at 12:22 pmTry using chocolate whip it’s by the pudding in the store or chocolate milk powder.
BK
May 18, 2021 at 1:51 pmHi, thank you for this! I made it last night, absolutely delicious but my baked crust was rock hard and the mixture never set in the fridge, even overnight- any suggestions? BTW I thoroughly enjoyed the YT video : )
Tipper
May 18, 2021 at 2:04 pmBK-I’ve never had mine not sit up so I’m not sure about that part. You could try not baking your crust next time and see if that works better for the crust. I’m so glad you enjoyed the video 🙂 Hope you have a great evening!
Corrine
April 16, 2021 at 11:28 pmI’m going to make this with bananas & lime juice. Just because! Thank you for sharing.
William J. Boone
April 14, 2021 at 2:11 pmGood day, Tipper. My father’s sister, Nanny, made a very similar dessert, often for dinner after church. She used a store-bought graham cracker crust, an 8 oz. cream cheese, 2 cups of milk and a package of Jello instant lemon pudding mix. It tasted tangy from the cream cheese with a subtle lemon flavor, not overly sweet. The combination of graham cracker and lemon cheesecake hits just the right spot for me. No need for anything else.
Perry Morgan White
January 11, 2021 at 1:14 amHi Tipper
I went to Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green when I was young and met a girl there. Recently, when I went to BG to see her again I was happy to hear her beautiful accent once again. My name is Perry but she pronounced it as “Purry” and asked me to get her a “wedge pillar” in the bedroom.
Does pronouncing pillow as ‘pillar’ have Appalachian roots?
Tipper
January 11, 2021 at 3:47 pmPerry-thank you for the comment! I don’t know the exact origins-but yes saying pillow as pillar or piller is very common in Appalachia. Also winder for window and others!
christa
July 14, 2020 at 2:57 pmThis is the exact recipe my mom uses for her cheese cake. I remember many a times my mom making a couple of pies while I was at school and coming home to find them in the fridge.
Joanne
June 29, 2020 at 8:35 pmThis recipe is my kids’ favorite pie. Here in Southeast Texas we call it Banana Breeze Pie. We slice about 3 medium bananas on the bottom crust and pour the filling over it. One Christmas I made six of these in less than 20 minutes. To me they are better than cheesecake and very easy to make. The original recipe called for a baked regular pie crust, however about 30 years ago I switched to making them with a graham cracker crust. One recipe including the bananas fills an extra large graham cracker crust or two smaller crusts.
Granny Sue
June 29, 2020 at 7:53 pmSounds good, and easy!
Ann Applegarth
June 29, 2020 at 10:46 amYes! This has been a favorite of mine for many years! I got it from a friend in Houston, so my recipe card
calls it “Wanda Black’s Cheesecake.” But the tip for a crisp crust is new to me — thanks so much!
Now I will call it “Wanda Black’s and Tipper Presley’s Cheesecake”!
Cynthia
June 29, 2020 at 9:46 amI love cheesecake and I bake it for Thanksgiving and Easter.
Shirl
June 29, 2020 at 9:43 amYou know I am going to try this recipe like I do most of the ones you post. I’m a cheesecake lover with ingredients already on hand and that makes me anxious to get started. I never heard of cheesecake or cream cheese when I was growing up. I’m trying to make up for all the years of healthy eating.
Sallie the Apple Doll Lady
June 29, 2020 at 8:59 amA few yrs ago my husband made fresh blackberry topping for his cheesecake using the simple recipe for fresh strawberry pie (but no gelatin). It’s just made by sweetening and thickening about a pint of mashed fresh berries with cornstarch (stirring and cooking until thick) then adding fresh berries. Delicious! Since the blackberries are now getting ripe I expect we will have one before long.
Wanda Devers
June 29, 2020 at 8:51 amI make a “cheesecake” with cream cheese softened. I add sweetener, vanilla, and some lemon juice. To that I blend in gently a whole container of cool whip. Put it in a graham cracker crust & chill. Pretty good for diabetics or on a diet.
David Frost
June 29, 2020 at 8:28 amI make a lime pie using cool whip instead of cream cheese.
I use a cup of store bought lime juice, mix it with the sweetened condensed milk until it starts to thicken.
Stir in the cool whip.
It makes two 9 inch pies. Refrigerate overnight.
Cheryl W.
June 29, 2020 at 8:17 amOh my! This is the exact same recipe I found in a magazine almost 50 years ago, except a topping was included which was a can of cherry pie filling. I still have the clipping. Instead of a birthday cake, my son requested this every year for his birthday. Cheesecake number 49 will be made next month!
gayle larson
June 29, 2020 at 8:15 amAnother great Granny recipe. This sounds so easy. Will give it a try. A great summer treat.
Quinn
June 29, 2020 at 7:55 amI’ve had all sorts of cheesecake, plain and fancy, but I’ve never had a cheesecake I didn’t like 🙂
Ron Stephens
June 29, 2020 at 7:51 amI like cheesecake fine when I am around it. But I would be very unlikely to think of wanting one. Like you, I was an adult before I encountered it. I do not recall the particulars. I am the same way about pizza. I like it OK but I could go years without wanting one. Fold it over and make a calzone and I like it better but not much more.
Thanks for the recipe. As you say, it will go well with the blackberries I am picking and soon-to-be blueberries.
Margie Goldstein
June 29, 2020 at 7:33 amIt seems to me that grannies have THE MOST TRIED AND TRUE as well as tastiest and most reliable recipes passed down through many years of taste testing and happy smiles on all the people she loves faces!!!! I think most of us know granny did all she did without complaining or bickering and she lived in service to us all out of LOVE AND DEVOTION. She deserved roses but was happy when given a hand full of weeds picked by a little child and presented in love and honor. When I get to heaven, after Jesus, I’m headed to hug my granny and pat her sweet hand and kiss her forehead….. I miss her so very much!!! I find myself trying to be like her the older I get. She was The greatest woman the world NEVER knew!
Cynthia
June 29, 2020 at 9:48 amYour granny sounds like my Mama. My Nanny never baked, but boy could she fry chicken!
Ken Roper
June 29, 2020 at 7:09 amTipper,
I buy the ingredients at Ingles when I make a Chessecake, except I leave off the Icying. Mine is a more yellowish looking. It’s been a year or so since I made one. …Ken
Miss Cindy
June 29, 2020 at 6:47 amThat looks and sounds wonderful. I love anything with sweetened condensed milk in it. It’s good with Key Lime juice too. I also bought a spring form pan but soon quit using it and just poured the mixture into the graham crackers in a regular pie plate. It’s simpler and tastes the same.
I don’t bake much now because I’m the only one here to eat it and I sure don’t need to eat a whole pie so when I come to your house I always look to see if there is anything you’ve baked sitting on the counter that I can nibble a little of.