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.  

Strawberry Valentine's Day Cookies

So, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, the day dedicated to love. I used to hate this holiday so much because I used to really like this one guy and every Valentine’s Day I would wish that he would miraculously ask me out, well that never happened and I became very bitter about this holiday. Also I went through this phase where I didn’t want to be associated with anything girly, and this holiday is like the girliest holiday ever. Well, all that has changed now because I realized I didn’t need that boy and I actually love all holidays! They are fun and festive and just all around fun to celebrate, even Groundhogs Day.

Now onto the cookies. I found these cookies on the Taste of Home website a few months ago and I favorited them without reading the comments. And yesterday I was like, crap I haven’t added anything to the blog in forever so I might as well get cracking on some Valentine’s Day goodies. And so yesterday I was looking at the comments and people were saying how horrible these cookies were and how great these cookies were and I was thinking, man, what have I gotten myself into? But I decided to make these cookies anyway and they would just have to be and experiment because I would have to do some major adaptation, I thought. Turns out I didn’t have to make too many adaptations, but it was still nerve racking because I didn’t know if they were going to be a dud or not. Now these cookies do taste like strawberry and they are pretty tasty, they remind me of the strawberry cookies my grocery store hands out, but they have strawberry flavored chocolate chip type things and I think next time I’m going to maybe decrease the baking powder some and maybe add some of those chips, if I can find any. And I don’t need to tell you that these cookies taste great with a glass of milk because every cookies tastes great with a glass of milk. ;)

They have a nice pink color too :) You can decorate these as you please. I just decided to melt the rest of the chocolate chips I've had in the pantry and pipe it onto the cookies. 

I hope you enjoy your Valentine’s Day, whether you be single or taken.


Strawberry Cookies
adapted from the Taste of Home
makes 32 cookies

Ingredients
5 tbsp unsalted butter, soft
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tbsp milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup strawberry drink mix (Nestle Nesquick)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In a large bowl cream togeth the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, egg white and milk until well incorporated.
3. In a seperate bowl combine the flour, strawberry drink mix, baking powder and salt. Once combined, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Once combined, roll dough into about 1 inch balls and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apartand, using the palm of your hand, flatten the cookie slightly.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before removing onto wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 cookie
Calories 63.9 Total Fat 1.9 g Saturated Fat 1.3 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 11.4 mg Sodium 87.1 mg Potassium 13.6 mg Total Carbohydrate 10.9 g Dietary Fiber 0.3 g Sugars 5.5 g Protein 5.6 g