Quick Lemon Cheesecake Parfaits

This would have looked better if I had remembered to whip some heavy cream with limoncello and powdered sugar and dollop it on the surface of the parfait (along with some chopped candied lemon peel) as the garnish I had planned. It was only as we dug in that I remembered. It The dessert tasted delicious so it was fine, but these quick lemon cheesecake parfaits were not as glamorous to look at as one might have wished...

Their inception was also not a glamorous affair - I realized right before guests arrived that I had forgotten to make a dessert for the dinner to which they were invited. A scan of pantry and fridge yielded a jar of lemon curd that someone had brought me as a gift, graham cracker crumbs from my Thanksgiving tart, and cream cheese, as well as the garnish ingredients that I mentioned above. I was pretty sure that I could get something that tasted like a cheesecake out of this and I did. It was tasty and took under ten minutes. It would have been closer to fifteen minutes had I added the whipped cream, but still! A good addition to the "dessert in a hurry" category. And yummy to boot.

Makes four portions.

1 rectangle container of full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese

1 jar of lemon curd (I used a 13.8 oz jar of Campo d'Oro brand Sicilian lemon curd)

Juice of half a lemon

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsps powdered sugar

1 Tbsp limoncello or brandy

Candied lemon peel crystallized ginger to garnish (optional)

Whip the lemon curd and cream cheese together along with the lemon juice.

Spoon into four glasses or dessert dishes, alternating layers with the graham cracker crumbs as shown above.

In a separate container, whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar together until the cream thickness into stiff peaks. Stir in the limoncello.

Spoon over the top of the dessert dishes and garnish with chopped candied lemon peel or crystallized ginger, if using.