Want to impress your family and friends with a memorable dessert that looks as good as it tastes? Serving cheesecake makes any meal special, but baking one from scratch can be stressful and time-consuming. And, with the holidays coming up, we want treats that are simple to make, but look and taste special.
So, imagine placing a personal cheesecake in front of your dinner guests that will satisfy their sweet tooth and wow the eyes, but takes less than 20 minutes to make. It may sound like a cook’s fantasy, but we found a recipe to make these sweet dreams a reality.
It’s called Cool Whip Cheesecake Pudding and it is the perfect little no-bake dessert.
Lois of Walking on Sunshine Recipes created these little dessert jars to bring out the best flavors of a cherry cheesecake in a recipe that takes a fraction of the time of a full-sized cake. Plus, it is a no-bake recipe, which makes preparation even easier.
Get out your smartphone or a piece of paper to jot down what you’ll need to whip up these mini cheesecakes in a jar. The ingredients are simple, and you probably already have most of them on hand, but you might need to add cream cheese, instant pudding mix, Cool Whip and canned cherry pie filling to your list.
You will also need a few, handy kitchen items to pull this easy dessert together. Lois used 8-ounce mason jars in this recipe, but you could choose 4-ounce jars to make more servings if you’d like.
The recipe author recommends using a stand mixer and a tart tamper to help speed up the mixing of the ingredients and packing them in the graham cracker crust layer on the bottom of the jars.
If you prefer homemade whipped cream, then you can substitute your favorite recipe for the Cool Whip. But, the store-bought version is a great time saver and the recipe ingredients should elevate the flavor to something spectacular.
Just follow the steps outlined in Walking on Sunshine’s Cool Whip and Cheesecake Pudding recipe to have these ready in no time. You can even make the cheesecake base ahead of time up to three days in advance. Lois suggests waiting to add the filling to the jars and the cherries on top until just before serving to ensure freshness and prevent a soggy dessert.
These adorable desserts look easy enough to serve regularly throughout the busy holiday season, but pretty enough to bring out any day you want something a little special at the end of the meal. Enjoy the sweet life!