Quick and simple no-bake Strawberry Cheesecake Cups

Once again that special day to celebrate the one you love is upon us. I know that a lot of you are planning on avoiding the busy restaurant scene this year in favour of having a nice meal in. Some of you are even lucky enough to have me cooking your Valentine's dinner for you (thank you!). I think that's a great idea to avoid the regular downtown restaurant scene and I want to help. This morning I am going to show you how to make a very quick, very simple, very delicious Valentine's Day dessert. Specifically, we are going to take a look at how to make no-bake strawberry cheesecake cups.

Okay, let's take a look at my...

Ingredients

One of the great things about these no-bake strawberry cheesecake cups is that they are made of only seven ingredients. The ingredients are cream cheese, whipping cream, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and juice, graham crackers (I used kinnikinnick gluten-free graham crackers), and strawberries. That's it. For full measurements check out the recipe at the bottom of this post.

One important thing to keep in mind here is that you want the cream cheese to be at room temperature. If you are in a rush you can microwave the cream cheese for 30-45 seconds.

Making the no-bake strawberry cheesecake

The first step in making these no-bake strawberry cheesecake cups is to beat half the block of cream cheese until it is nice and smooth. The rest of the cream can be wrapped and put in the fridge for another use. It should only take 1-2 minutes of beating to get smooth. Again, make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature.

Once the cream cheese is nice and smooth add in the cream and beat until it is fully incorporated into the cheese. Next up add in 2 tablespoon of sugar, the zest and juice of half a lemon, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat the mixture until it is fully combined and has a nice light texture. Set aside.

Cream Cheese

Strawberries

With the cheese mixture done and set aside you can hull (remove the stems) from the strawberries and cut them into quarters. When hulling strawberries it is easiest to use a paring knife. Stick the tip of the knife into the strawberry about 1 cm on a 45° angle. Put your thumb in the center of the stem and turn the strawberry 360°. The hull should come right off.

Putting it all together

To assemble the no-bake strawberry cheesecake start with two empty martini glasses, ramekins, rocks glasses, or whatever you would prefer. Break one of the graham crackers in half and break each half into small pieces into each of the glasses. Top the graham crackers with a spoonful of the cheese mixture, then some strawberries. Repeat this process once more.

I garnished my glasses with a strawberry with the stem still on and a graham cracker. You could also top this with some whipped cream and a sprig of mint. If you want to get really crazy shave some chocolate over the top using a vegetable peeler.

Once the dessert is assembled put it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. If the dessert will be in the fridge for longer than a few hours wrap it with plastic.

Conclusion

I try very hard not to say that things are easy on this blog for a lot of reasons. The main reason being that easy is a relative term based on skill level and knowledge. However, this is very easy. Not only that, it is really delicious and well worth the few minutes it takes to make it. I promise, whoever your sweetheart is, they will be really happy with you for making them this.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!