Lemon Cream Crunch

(serves 4-6) 

Base: 

100g (4 oz) butter or margarine

200g (8 oz) digestive biscuits (or American graham crackers)

Filling: 

400g (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk 

300ml (12 fl oz) whipping cream 

3-4 small lemons, juice and grated yellow part of rind (100ml juice)

Method: 

Melt the butter in a covered container in the microwave, or very gently in a pan on the hob. Crush the digestive biscuits and stir into the melted butter. Press in the base of a greased 22cm (9-inch) flan tin or serving dish, and cool. 

Whip the cream, then fold in the condensed milk until blended. Add in the grated lemon rind and juice, stir quickly, then pour into the base. This sets extremely fast once the lemon juice has been added. Refrigerate. If you like you can sprinkle grated chocolate or sugar strands over the top before serving.

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This is a quick, easy and highly calorific dessert, similar to what is called 'key lime pie' in the USA. I find the digestive biscuit base makes it taste a little like cheesecake, although there is no cheese and no cooking required to make it set. I used to make it over a base consisting of melted chocolate, melted butter and rice crispies. This was popular with small children but rather messy, and did not keep more than a day in the fridge as the rice crispies became soggy. 

Use unwaxed lemons, and scrub well to get rid of any dirt before grating. If the lemons are large, measure the juice before adding. About 100ml juice is about right - much more than that leaves the filling too runny, although lemony and delicious, if you like a somewhat tart lemon flavour. 

I have recently experimented with trying to make this dairy-free. While both whipping cream and condensed milk are available dairy-free, the dessert will not set unless you also use some thickener such as cornflour or tapioca starch. The reason the dairy-based recipe sets so well (and so quickly) is related to the chemical reaction of the acidic lemon juice with the proteins in the dairy products. 

My first attempt used 400ml thick canned coconut milk, mixed with 2 tbsp cornflour and 1 tbsp golden syrup, then heated in a pan, stirring, until the mixture was quite thick.  I cooled it a little, then stirred in 50ml lemon juice and 120g sweetened condensed coconut milk. I added some vanilla extract too, as the suggested recipe I found listed that, but would leave it out another time. 

If you prefer it tarter, you could leave out the golden syrup (and if not vegan could use honey instead). It worked quite well but didn't set as well as the dairy version, and the taste wasn't the same. But still, a good alternative if you want something fairly quick and lemony.