How do you make cream cheese pie, as opposed to cheesecake?

I'm trying to make a cream cheese pie, not a cheesecake. One difference is that the cream cheese pie is not baked. It has a different consistencey, about as firm, as ice cream, but smoother and not frozen. It dosen't have the cake-like consistency of cheesecake.





Anyway, I'm using the following recipe:





INGREDIENTS


1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust


1 (21 ounce) can light cherry pie filling


1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened


1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk


1/3 cup lemon juice


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS


Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk, and continue beating until smooth and combined. Add lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.


Fill graham cracker crust evenly. Refrigerate until set; this will take between 2 to 4 hours.





The end result? Cream cheese soup! Does anybody know how I can firm this up? Or am I doing something wrong?How do you make cream cheese pie, as opposed to cheesecake?
That is the exact recipe I've used for years with excellent results. The only thing I can think of that you possibly did wrong is maybe use a can of condensed milk instead of sweetened condensed milk...??? They are not the same consistency. Also, you didn't add the cherries to it, did you? It will thicken as it gets colder in the fridge and the cream chesse hardens back up. If you softened the cream cheese in the microwave, that might mess up the consistency, too. Sorry, that's all I can come up with.How do you make cream cheese pie, as opposed to cheesecake?
I make this pie regularly. I made my 1st one when I was 10-12 yo - some 5+ decades ago. Key points in making this pie: The lemon juice curdles the milk. This is why the pie ';sets up';. Therefore you absolutely cannot add the lemon juice until all other ingredients are mixed . If you do, you'll get soup. Use a hand whisk or spoon to mix the lemon juice into the other ingredients. Stop mixing just as soon as the lemon juice is distributed into the mixture and immediately pour the mixture into the pie shell. If you mix with an electric mixer or mix too much, you'll get soup. If you let the mixture sit very long in the bowl after the lemon juice is added, you'll disturb the ';set'; when you pour it into the pie shell and you'll have pudding. The amount of lemon juice in your recipe is the amount called for in the original recipe for this pie. The original recipe did not use the cream cheese. With the addition of the cream cheese you need at least 3/4 cup lemon juice. I use 1 1/4 cups. Unless you can get tree ripened lemons, use bottled lemon juice. Tree ripened lemon juice and bottled lemon juice has a pH of 4.4 - 4.6. Juice from unripe lemons (what is usually found at your local green-grocer or supermarket) may have a pH as high as 5.8 - 6.0. A pH this high will not curdle the milk enough for a firm set.





I like my pie topped with blueberry pie filling better than with cherry pie filling.
Try this





2 cups graham cracker crumbs


1 stick melted butter


1/2 cup sugar


mix together and press in shell


1 large tub whip cream


1 bar cream cheese Softened


1 cup powder sugar


mix together with electric mixture until fluffy spread in crust, top with your favorite pie filling. Chill for an hour or so. This is so easy and is yummy
The recipes I've found in my old cookbooks for cream cheese pie all require baking - they all have eggs to help get the pie to set - and then they go in the frig.





Is it possible that you grabbed a can of evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed? I've done it before because they usually sit on the same shelf at the market and the labels look the same.





Sorry I can't be of more help!





Good luck - cream cheese pie sounds really good right now!
Add a small pkg of instant Jello pudding, vanilla or cheesecake flavor. Whisk it in and wait 3-5 min to let it thicken. If it gets to thick, add a little milk - very little bit by bit till it's the consistency you want.





I make a similar thing with


1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, room temp


1 large pkg instant Jello pudding - vanilla


2 cps milk


12 oz Cool Whip





Use a fork or potato masher to mash the cream cheese and blend it with the milk. Stir in the pudding mix till well blended. Add the cool whip and stir.


Put in a cake pan with a graham cracker crust. Refrigerate.





Cut up 1 container of strawberries and stir it into a can of raspberry pie filling. This makes an awesome topping!!


Delicious
Even though you have chosen to call this a ';pie'; instead of a cheesecake it looks very similar to several ';no-bake'; cheese cakes I have seen.





Here is a link with several no-bake cheesecakes. Take a look at them and maybe it will give you an idea of how to make this work for you...





http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.asp鈥?/a>





Bert