Lemon Bisque

 

Another mom recipe.  It has a super fancy name (“bisque” is not a word that comes up in everyday conversation unless you make soup for a living).    But this isn’t soup, and it’s pretty much the opposite of fancy.   It’s actually kind of trashy….I mean, lemon Jell-O® is a major ingredient.   But wait – don’t stop reading there!   It’s actually super good.

This is a great dessert for the summer or if you’re having a really heavy meal.   It’s really light, and if you like it…and you will….you can have seconds and thirds.   That’s a win all around in my book.

Ingredients

·        1 box Nilla® wafers

·        2 t butter

·        1 package, lemon Jell-O  (see, I told you it was a major ingredient)

·        1 cup boiling water

·        3 T sugar

·        Pinch of salt

·        1 grated lemon rind

·        4 T lemon juice (about 1 lemon, but buy 2 just in case)

·        1 12 oz. can evaporated milk – chilled a day ahead of time

Crush the entire box of Nilla wafers.   Melt the butter and mix it in with the crushed wafers.   The butter’s basically just there to help bind the crushed wafers, plus its butter and butter makes everything better.

Take about 2/3 of the mixture and spread it around the bottom of a 9” x 13” serving dish (or something around that size) and press down lightly with your fingers.

Mix the Jell-O, boiling water, sugar, lemon rind, salt and lemon juice in a bowl.   Taste it before you put it in – you may want to add a little more sugar.   Not much, though – you want this to taste lemon-y, not sickly sweet.  Put it in the fridge to chill.  Don’t let it set into gelatin!  You’re basically just getting it to room temperature-ish quickly.

Take the chilled evaporated milk and beat it with a hand mixer until it’s the consistency of whipped cream.   Yes, it’s weird, but evaporated milk really does whip just like whipped cream.   Doesn’t taste nearly as good, though.  Believe me, I tried it so you don’t have to.

 

Slowly pour the Jell-O mixture into the evaporated milk and fold together gently.   You don’t want to use a mixer or anything – just a wooden spoon until it’s fully blended.

Pour this Jell-O mixture into the serving dish, and sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of the crumbs on top.

Cover it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill until its set and you’re ready to serve (at least 2 hours).

It ends up cutting like a sheet cake.  It’s super light and very delicious.