No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

All right, so remember those Chocolate Kiss Krispies I shared will y’all last week? Remember what I said about not going out and buying that strawberry drink mix just for the glaze? Well, you probably should have because I have a recipe that will delight the artificial strawberry lover in you. (That is made to be a good thing).

I remember after reading this post on Sprinkle Bakes I immediately saved the recipe. It’s a No Bake Strawberry Milk Cheesecake. I always liked chocolate milk as a kid, but I did try strawberry milk every once in a while. And although it has been several years since I have had strawberry milk, I still remember the taste, but only because of Neapolitan ice cream.

I planned on making this back in the Spring/Summer of last year, but I never got around to it. Then Peabody took up suggestions for birthday cake and she made the same cheesecake for her fiancé, so that’s when it clicked that I really need to get my act together and make this thing. That, plus the fact this cheesecake is pink and therefore perfect for Valentine’s Day.

 I would like to mention this is only my third cheesecake ever! My first was this delectable pumpkin cheesecake picked from the Cake Slice Bakers group and this amazing chocolate and peanut butter mousse cake, again from the Cake Slice Bakers.

This cheesecake isn’t really a cheesecake at all. At least it doesn’t taste that way. It just tasted like an ice cream cake, which is pretty dang awesome! The creamy batter (if I can call it that) it subtly sweet and tastes like childhood. And instead of making the funfetti crust Heather made, I decided to go with just a chocolate teddy graham crust because chocolate teddy grahams were all I had. I think the chocolate crust and strawberry milk filling is a great combination, though. I didn’t add the whipped cream on top, but if you did, this basically would be a Neapolitan ice cream cake.

No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Makes 6 cheesecake cups

Ingredients

Crust

50 g chocolate teddy graham crumbs

Pinch of salt

½ tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Cheesecake

½ cup heavy whipping cream

4 oz. cream cheese, soft

¼ cup strawberry drink mix (such as Nestle Nesquick)

½ tbsp. sugar *

Directions

Line a muffin tin with six paper liners.

To turn the teddy grams into crumbs, just put them in a food processor and pulse until you get fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, put the teddy grahams into a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin. Whisk together the crumbs, salt, and sugar in a small bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix until the crumbs are moist. Place 1 ½ tbsp. of the crumb mixture into each paper liner.

In a large bowl, beat the heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the softened cream cheese and beat until combined. Sift in the strawberry milk powder and sugar. *I used 25% less sugar strawberry Nestle Nesquick, but if you use the full sugar, just omit the ½ tbsp. of sugar in the recipe. Fold the milk powder and sugar to combine. Evenly distribute the cheesecake filling between the six cups (I used a medium-small cookie scoop and put three dollops into each tin).

Freeze cheesecake cups for 2 hours, or until firm, before removing them from the tin. Let the cheesecake cup sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving. Store uneaten cheesecake in the freezer.