No-bake cheesecake pie with berry topping

If you’re looking for a fantastic cheesecake-flavored dessert without the effort of making a cheesecake, then my recipe for cheesecake pie is perfect for Shavuot.

This recipe has a few different steps but it’s easier than traditional cheesecake — you don’t need a springform pan or a water bath, and it’s also free of eggs for those with egg allergies. You will need to prepare a yummy graham cracker crust and a simple syrup, cut up some berries or fruit and whip up the cheesecake filling for the pie. Although this recipe has multiple steps, they are all fairly easy. This pie takes only 25 minutes to prepare, not including baking/refrigeration time.

You can very easily double this recipe to get two cheesecake pies. When I do that, I use two different fruit toppings to have multiple options to serve. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or a mix of some or all. I made this with guava once and it was superb. You can use any fruit that doesn’t turn brown after being peeled and cut, and whose flavor would pair well with cheesecake.

Ingredients

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Simple syrup for fruit
½ cup white sugar
½ cup water
2 cups berries or cut fruit of your choice

Graham cracker crust
1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed, about 1 ½ cups
1 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of sea salt

Cream cheese filling
1 8-ounce bar of cream cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unflavored kosher gelatin
1 tablespoon water

Take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for about 2 hours before you make the filling. I’ve tried to whip it while it’s cold but I had lumps in my filling, so don’t skip this step.

You can prepare both the simple syrup and crust hours before you do anything else, so if it’s helpful, you can get these steps out of the way.

To prepare the simple syrup, combine the sugar and water in a small sauce pan and place it over medium heat. Bring it to a gentle boil until the liquid is clear, then reduce the heat to simmer for a few minutes. Set aside to cool.

Open a sleeve of graham crackers and place crackers into a zip-top bag. Crush them as finely as you can by rolling with a rolling pin. If you don’t have one, you can crush them with the bottom of a sturdy glass or measuring cup.

Melt one stick of unsalted butter.

Add the crumbs to the butter and stir well. Allow this mixture to sit for about 15 minutes.

Stir in the sugar and a pinch of sea salt.

Transfer to a pie plate. Press crumbs evenly across the bottom with the back of a spoon, then up the sides of the pie plate.

Bake at 350 F for 16-18 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely before filling.

This mixture makes enough crust to fill a deep-dish pie plate. If you have a shallow plate and have crumbs left over, you can save them to garnish each slice when serving.

The only step that may be unfamiliar is working with gelatin powder. Be sure to purchase unflavored gelatin, not a clear gel dessert product. I found Leiber’s brand at my local kosher store. Gelatin adds stability and firmness to dessert fillings and is usually the secret in fancy bakery cakes and desserts. One sleeve of gelatin contains 2 teaspoons of powder — just use a measuring spoon to take out one teaspoon of gelatin. Add it to a very small bowl with 1 tablespoon of water. Gelatin can get a little clumpy, so I place the small bowl into a slightly larger bowl and add boiling water to the outer bowl. That essentially makes a little water bath for the gelatin. The heat will warm the water and gelatin and you can stir it well with a fork and allow it to rest until it’s time to add it to the cream cheese filling.

You can use either a stand or a hand mixer to prepare the filling.

Add the cream cheese to the bowl and mix for about 3 minutes. Start on low and gradually raise the speed up to high — try to make the cream cheese as fluffy as possible before adding the other ingredients.

Add the sugar, sour cream and vanilla, then mix well for about 30 seconds.

Turn the mixer to low and slowly pour in the heavy cream.

Gradually raise the speed to high until stiff peaks form, which should take 3-4 minutes.

Add the gelatin mixture and mix for another minute.

Use a spatula to pour the cream cheese filling into the prepared graham cracker crust. Use your spatula to spread more of the filling around the edges, leaving a well in the middle and more filling around the edges.
Refrigerate for two hours. Once it’s completely chilled, loosely cover with plastic wrap until it’s time to serve.

If you’re using strawberries, remove the stems and cut into quarters lengthwise. You need 2 cups of fruit per pie. You can use all of one berry or mix them together.

When the fruit is washed and prepared, put it into a bowl and pour the simple syrup over the fruit. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes.

Strain the fruit before adding to the chilled pie. If you have a mesh strainer, scoop the fruit out of the bowl and into the strainer, allowing the sugar syrup to drain. You could also use a colander. Add the fruit to the top of the pie and you can serve this immediately.

This dessert needs to be refrigerated unless it’s out for serving.

Chag sameach! Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.