No Bake Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

No Bake Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes 

These No Bake Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes are quite possibly one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make.  The recipe combines low fat cream cheese, Greek yogurt and strawberry Jello to make a silky strawberry cheesecake filling.  Not counting the water, this is a five ingredient dessert that uses store bought shortbread cookies to make quick work of the crust.  And with all of the calories you saved in the low fat filling you’ll be able to garnish with a little whipped cream and fresh strawberries and still be ahead of the ballgame.  You could also substitute sugar free Jello in the recipe to shave off even more calories. Since this recipe works just as well with all the other jello flavors, you can be quite adventurous with this one.  One of my favorite combos is an orange filling topped with dark chocolate ganache and a chocolate cookie crust.

  

No Bake Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

Prep time:  15 min

Cook time:  2 min

Ingredients list

•           16 oz light cream cheese, softened
•          7 oz low fat Greek yogurt
•          (1) 3 oz package strawberry Jello
•          1/3 cup water
•          5 oz of gluten free shortbread cookies
•          4 tbsp melted butter

Video Tutorial: 

Instructions

1.  Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper liners.
2.  Place the cookies into a Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin until you have them as fine as you can get them. Stir the crumbs together with the melted butter until you have a damp sandy texture. 
3.   Add a heaping tablespoon of the crust mixture to each of the paper liners and using either the back of a spoon or a small flat bottomed glass to press the crust mixture firmly onto the bottom and slightly up the sides of each cupcake liner then refrigerate to set as you work on the cheesecake batter.
4.   In a large bowl beat together the softened cream cheese and Greek yogurt until it’s well blended and lump free.    
5.   To dissolve the Jello, bring 1/3 cup of water to a boil then turn off the heat and stir in the entire package of Jello mixing for about 2 minutes or until the gelatin is completely dissolved. 
6.    Add the strawberry gelatin mixture to the cream cheese mixture and mix until the cheesecake batter has a uniform pink color.
7.   Evenly divide the mixture among the twelve liners then use the back of a spoon to gently smooth out the tops. 
8.  Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours but overnight is even better. 
9.  Garnish with fresh strawberries and whipped cream or chocolate ganache before serving if you want.  

Notes:  Be sure to combine the cream cheese and Greek yogurt in advance of dissolving the Jello since you’ll want to add the dissolved Jello immediately to the mix before it starts to set up.  This recipe works well with other flavors of Jello so feel free to change it up to suit your own tastes.   

Strawberry Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache

And here's that same cheesecake with a layer of dark chocolate ganache and a sliced fanned strawberry.  To do this make, sure you've already chilled the cheesecake then melt equal parts of dark chocolate and heavy cream and stir them together until silky and smooth. Spoon it over the top of each cake.  Make sure that the paper liners are still in place.  Slice off the bottom of a strawberry then slice it into thin strips and stand the fanned out strawberry on top while the chocolate is still wet. Chill for about an hour to set the ganache and serve.