"Larry Clark" > wrote in message
...
> I'm trying to make a cherry cream pie and have seen the following recipe
> for this cream filling many times on the internet.
>
> 1 can (15 ounce; 1 1/3 cups) sweetened condensed milk
> 1/3 cup lemon juice
> 1 teaspoon vanilla
> 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
> 1/2 cup whipping cream; whipped
> Combine sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, vanilla and almond
> extract.
> Stir until mixture thickens. Fold in whipped cream
>
> I can not get this stuff thick enough to support a layer of pie filling.
> I've stirred and stirred with no effect. I even tried cooking it and
> that was too satisfactory either. Any ideas?

I was expecting some egg yolks, but there are none in your recipe. The
original recipe for key lime pie has the following ingredients:
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup Key Lime Juice

You can see that it is very similar, except that it has egg yolks and omits
the whipped cream. The acid and the yolk react to thicken the mixture. I
think you have a couple of options. One would be to add the egg yolks. If
you are afraid of eating raw eggs, look for pasteurized eggs. An
alternative would be to bake the mixture for about 30 minutes at 350F or
bring the mixture to 165F for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Of course,
you would have to omit the whipped cream if you heat it.

Another option would be to beat in a couple of packages of cream cheese. I
would try one package. If it doesn't seem stiff enough, then I would add
the second. It will thicken somewhat upon refrigeration, but not a lot.

The third approach would be to add some modified food starch. If you have
access to a restaurant supply or a GFS Marketplace, you can get a thickening
agent like Nutrathick. Commercial thickening agents will work on hot or
cold food. The more you add, the thicker the results.