No Bake Lemon Cheesecake

 

Last week I was craving cheesecake. I had seen a picture of something called strawberry banana fantasy cheesecake that I knew I had to make. I went out and bought all of the ingredients, including bananas and strawberries, and then I took a look at the recipe. The recipe and the picture were completely unrelated. I did a search to see if I could find a recipe that matched the picture, and there was none to be found. This led me to the conclusion that the picture I was looking at was AI. I hate it when food blogs do this sort of thing because it’s misleading, and, in my opinion, deceit of the highest form. After this little secret was unveiled, I was kind of put off by that banana strawberry cheesecake. It must’ve been fate, because the next day a no-bake lemon cheesecake caught my eye. I’ve never made a no-bake cheesecake before so I thought I would give it a try.  The late Mr. O-P was a purist (you can read about our cheesecake wars here and here), and no doubt would have balked at something like this; too bad, because he would have really missed out. In my mind, this was going to be so easy. It wasn’t.

I suppose I probably shouldn’t have made this when I was frantically involved in a variety of things, and the Roomba was circling my feet. I had the entire kitchen covered with pots, pans, ingredients, and a freshly squeezed 1/2 cup of lemon juice (from three zested lemons) into which I had dissolved gelatin. In my zeal to clean a space to continue on, I hit that cup with my elbow and sent it sailing down to the floor. Not only did I have to clean up the mess that I had made, but I also had to squeeze three more lemons! Fortunately, I had them.

Was it worth it? Oh, yeah! This is so refreshingly delicious, light as a feather, and satisfied both my lemon and cheesecake cravings. It is the perfect dessert for summer, can be prettily garnished with fresh summer fruit, like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or anything else that happens to be in season, and is certainly company worthy.

The original recipe called for a graham cracker crust, I wanted something a bit zingier, so I made a gingersnap crust. You can do what you like. I also added a few drops of yellow food coloring to make the filling look less white, and swapped out the vanilla flavoring in the whipped cream used for the garnish with lemon flavoring because I really wanted to take it over the top. Did I ever.

No Bake Lemon Cheesecake

Adapted from lifeloveandsugar.com

 Crust:

2¼ c. gingersnap crumbs

2 T. sugar

10 T. butter, melted

 Cheesecake Filling:

½ c. fresh squeezed lemon juice (3-4 lemons)

1 0.25 oz. pkg. unflavored gelatin (2½ t.)

¼ c. sweetened condensed milk

24 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

½ c. sugar

2-3 drops yellow food coloring

2 T. sour cream

2½ T. lemon zest

1¼ c. heavy whipping cream

¾ c. powdered sugar

 Whipped Cream:

1 c. heavy whipping cream

½ c. powdered sugar

1 t. lemon extract

To make the crust:

In a medium bowl combine the crust. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Set in the fridge to chill.

To make the filling:

Place lemon juice into a medium-sized bowl, and sprinkle the powdered gelatin evenly over it; let stand for 4-5 minutes.

 Heat the lemon juice and gelatin mixture in the microwave for 10-20 seconds, until just warm and smooth. Stir the sweetened condensed milk into the lemon juice mixture, then set the mixture aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and food coloring together, adjusting to achieve the desired color, until smooth. Add the sour cream and lemon zest and mix to combine. Add the cooled lemon juice mixture and mix until well combined and smooth; set mixture aside.

 In another large mixing bowl, add the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture in two parts until well combined. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and spread into an even layer using an offset spatula. Refrigerate cheesecake until firm, 5-6 hours or overnight.

Remove it from the springform pan and set on a plate or serving platter.

 To garnish: 

Place heavy cream, powdered sugar, and lemon extract into a medium mixing bowl. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form. Pipe swirls of around the edge of the cheesecake, and garnish as you see fit.

 Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cheesecake is best for 4-5 days.

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