For Christmas, I always make a ton of fudge and toffee to give out as gifts to friends, family and neighbors. Unfortunately, I also always procrastinate when it comes to getting tins in which to package said fudge and toffee. This past Christmas, I delayed way too long and no matter where I looked — Walmart, Target, Cost Plus World Market, Michael’s, etc. — there were no empty holiday tins to be had. While at my last resort (a.k.a. Walmart), I noticed a huge wall of those Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies for $3 a tin sporting several different holiday designs. Since I really didn’t have a choice, I threw up my hands and bought a dozen tins. Though they worked perfectly for gifting fudge, I was left with scads of butter cookies!
While packaging the fudge, I included a sleeve of butter cookies in each tin because a) I thought it would be cute since I was using the Dansk tins; b) I needed to do something with the cookies; and c) it made me giggle. Nevertheless, there were still legions of butter cookies left, now being stored in a large Tupperware. What was I to do with all of these cookies?
After consulting Google, I discovered several recipes using cookies (or more specifically ‘Nilla Wafers), to make no-bake cakes. I cobbled a couple of recipes together and whamo! I came up with a Lemon Icebox Cake with lemon curd and cream cheese whipped topping. Since I had so many cookies, I made a practice run to see if the cookies would become cake-like in the fridge overnight and luckily, I met with success. I brought my second cake to a family Christmas party where, to my delight, it was gobbled up most heartily. I hope you love it as much as my family did!
**Note: If you couldn’t already tell from the ingredients, this is not keto!**
Lemon Icebox Cake
Makes 10-12 servings
Ingredients:
Lemon Curd:
2 lemons
3/4 C sugar
4 T or 1/2 stick of salted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
Cream Cheese Whip:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 C powdered sugar
2 1/2 heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Approximately 1 tin of Royal Dansk Butter Cookies
Method:
Make the lemon curd first, as it has to set up in the fridge for a few hours. Zest the lemons and mix it into the sugar in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and lemony sugar together until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time and blend well, and then add the juice from both lemons. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan and simmer it over low heat until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Remove the curd from the heat and let it come to room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator.
Meanwhile in another bowl, cream together the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar until well combined. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest and vanilla, and whip until stiff peaks form.
Once the curd is chilled, get ready to assemble! Place a layer of butter cookies at the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish. Top with about 1/2 of the whipped cream/cream cheese mixture and spread evenly. Add dollops of curd on top and swirl with a knife. Repeat with a second layer of cookies, whipping cream and lemon curd. Cover and chill overnight.
Enjoy!
