No Bake Cherry Cheesecake

Tomorrow is my mother in laws birthday, and earlier we had been talking about cheesecake and how much we love them, so I asked what was her favorite and she mentioned any fruit filling kind. So I decided to go for the classic cherry cheesecake because that is my husbands favorite kind. Honestly how can you go wrong especially with the no bake it is a walk in the park making the only down side is having the patience waiting for it to set in the fridge.

I gathered all my ingredients, for this recipe you need graham cracker crumbs, butter, brown sugar for the crust and cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Super easy and super quick to make.

I melted 1/4 cup of butter in the microwave while I put 1 and a half packets of graham crackers into the blender to pulse into crumbs. Use whichever method is available to you whether using a rolling pin and a plastic bag, food processor or the blender in my instance. For the pan I chose I think next time using more graham crackers might actually be nicer, then you can go up the sides and have a crust all around, I honestly grabbed this pan last minute.

Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and flatten into a 9 inch cake or pie pan. The more packed the crust the more durable it will be, I used a measuring cup to help press and smooth it out. Once all flat put into freezer while making the filling.

For the filling cream together 2, 8 ounce packages of cream cheese using either a stand mixer or hand held. Whisking by hand wont get a smooth consistency and require a lot of elbow grease but if you are looking for a work out by all means. Once you reached that creamy texture slowly start adding in the condensed milk scraping the sides as needed to ensure everything is well incorporated. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1 tsp of vanilla and finish the mixing.

Remove crust from the freezer and pour the filling over top and smooth the top out, doesn't have to be perfect because we are just going to put pie filling over it once it sets. Put cake into the fridge for at least 3 hours (best to leave over night) then pour your cherry pie filling over top. I personally like to add vanilla to my pie filling to give it something extra and my own uniqueness. You can put back in the fridge to get the cherries a chill. I suggest if using a pan like mine and didn't raise crust high, to throw into the freezer for a bit just to get a stiffer form so you can remove the edge.

No Bake Cherry Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

• 1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine

• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar (or however sweet you want to make it)

Filling

• 2 8 oz pkg Cream Cheese

• 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

• 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 1 Can Cherry Pie Filling

Directions

1. Melt butter in the microwave and mix with graham crackers and brown sugar. Press mixture into a 9 inch pan and put into freezer.

2. In stand mixer or with handheld mix cream cheese till soft consistency then slowly add condensed milk. Continue mixing till combined smoothly. Add lemon juice and vanilla and finish mixing.

3. Pour filling into crust and put into fridge for minimum 3 hours, best at 8 hours.

4. Take out of fridge and top with cherry pie filling. Optional note: add 1/2 tsp of vanilla into pie filling for an extra zing. Put back into fridge to chill then serve and enjoy.