I’ve made this recipe 100s of times. It was my dad’s recipe. No idea where he found it, but he’s made it 100s of times as well. I really love cheesecake, and also love a good New York style. It’s cheesecake, but isn’t quite as unsatisfying as many no-bake recipes. It’s also great for people who don’t love a New York style. This one feels “lighter” so you can have two or three pieces. 😀
At some point I’ll come back add pictures, some more details of my steps, but um… don’t hold your breath. Maybe contact me if you want details.
Recipe
Crust
- 1¼ Crushed whole Graham crackers or whole Oreos (see note)
- ¼ cup butter
Instructions
- Melt butter and mix with cracker/cookie bits. (Add a pinch or two of salt if you’re using unsalted, I use salted often, cause it’s there).
- Press eveny in pie plate, springform pan, or any suitble baking dish.
- bake at 400F for 5-10 minutes, cool. (Don’t burn it. I’ve burned it many, many times. I have four kids though, so your mileage may vary.
Filling
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 envelop unflavoured gelatin
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 egg yolk, slightly beaten
- 1 package (8 oz/225g) cream cheese
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional; I typically omit this)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup whipping cream
Instructions
1. In saucepan combine 1/3 cup sugar, salt, and gelatin, add milk and slightly beaten egg yolk. (Note, the milk is cold and you’re heating it gradually, so the eggs donn’t scramble).
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. (You don’t want the gelatin to clump).
3. Remove from heat.
4. Add cream cheese, allow to soften, beat with rotary beater until smooth.
5. Cool until thicken slightly.
6. In small mixing bowl, combining egg white and vanilla, add ¼ tsp of cream of tartar, if desired, beat at high speed until foamy
7. Add sugar gradually, continuing to beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Fold into gelatin mixture.
8. Beat cream until thick. Fold into gelatin mix. Pour mixture into crust.
9. Refrigerated for at least 2 hours (or until set) before serving.
Notes
“Ain’t nobody got time for that”
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- You can substitute graham cracker or chocolate cookie crumbs, but I prefer starting with whole cookies and crushing them. The product I end up with is pieces varying in sizes with the largest being about 1 cm in diameter. I really like the texture contrast in the final product. I make my own cause I probably use more butter. I also brown the butter before mixing it in, so it has more flavour!
- Alternatively there are lots of ready made graham cracker crumb crusts pre-made. They’re perfectly fine! I don’t like fine though. My goal in life is to spend more time doing less, and would rather go all out when I do this. Seriously, do whatever you want.
Other Variations
- With a chocolate base, caramel, dulce de leche or chocolate based sauces work great.
- With a Graham cracker base, I like mango (my favourite), strawberry (most people’s favourite), raspberry or meyer lemon. (I prefer a good bite of acid in these sauces, but that’s just me.
- At some point, I might post some of the sauce recipes, but for now you’ll have to google something.
- If you’re really ambitious or feeling fancy, taking the time to marble in the sauce works works great. It being a no-bake recipe, you have plenty of time to do that.
- If you went crazy and actually used whole oreo cookies in the base, you may choose to reduce the corresponding sugar (reduce the 1/3 cup at the beginning, not the 1/4 cup with the egg whites). Also salting your caramel or opting for a tart raspberry sauce if you like chocolate and fruit, might work well.
- I’ve substituted successfully the milk/butter with lower fat versions or alternative milk products, in that there was a cheesecake shaped product at the end but seriously…. uh… it’s a cheesecake. Don’t do that.
- You can also cut the sugar back in the first step. But again…. it’s cheesecake.