Summertime No Bake Dessert: Pink Lemonade Cheesecake

In the heat of this summer, I searched for a dessert that wouldn't require turning on the oven. Here's what I created.

Pink Lemonade Cheesecake

Ingredients:

one prepared graham cracker crust

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons Crystal Light Pink Lemonade drink mix

1/4 cup cold milk

8 oz. Cool Whip

Start with a graham cracker crust. You can make your own of course, but in this heat, who wants to do that?

In a mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Then add the milk and the drink mix, beating again until smooth. Fold in half of the Cool Whip and spoon into the crust.

Refrigerate for one hour. Add remaining Cool Whip on top. Refrigerate for another three hours or until firm.

No-Bake Cookies: Chocolate Peanut Butter Drops

The weather is starting to cool off here a little, but it still felt a little too warm yesterday afternoon to turn on the oven. That's why I decided to try a "no-bake" cookie. The cooking part is done on the stove top, so your kitchen doesn't get so hot. These were pretty fast and easy to make, and they disappeared just as quickly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Drops

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup butterscotch chips (optional)

In a saucepan, mix the sugar, cocoa, and milk. Add the butter and cook over medium heat until butter melts and mixture begins to boil. Stir occasionally. Boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt, peanut butter, and oats.

Use a small cookie scooper to drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto waxed. Press a few butterscotch chips into cookies, if desired. Cool for at least an hour.

Yields: about 40 cookies.

Summertime Treat: Chocolate Pudding Cupcakes

I came up with this quick dessert idea when I was looking for a way to use up some supplies around the kitchen without having to turn on the oven.

You can serve these straight from the fridge or freeze them. However, the refrigerated version is creamier than the frozen version.

Chocolate Pudding Cupcakes

Ingredients:
10 Oreos, crushed
6 Oreos, whole
2 tablespoons butter
2 chocolate pudding snack cups
1 1/4 cup Cool Whip, thawed and divided

Finely crush 10 Oreo cookies. I like to put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and mix them with the crushed Oreos. Push these into the bottom of muffin tins that have been lined with paper or foil cups.

In a small bowl, mix the 2 pudding snacks with 3/4 cup of the Cool Whip. Spoon over Oreo crusts.

Top with an extra dollop of Cool Whip and one of the whole Oreos.

Yields: 6 servings

How to Make an Easy Ice Cream Cake

I got this idea from a co-worker and turned it into a treat for a friend who was expecting a baby (hence, the baby-themed candles on top).

This ice cream cake is easy to make and super sweet so be sure to share with friends. :)

Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:
9 ice cream sandwiches
hot fudge sauce
Cool Whip, thawed
Peanut Butter Frosting (2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons peanut butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2-3 tablespoons milk)

On a large sheet of aluminum foil lay down two ice cream sandwiches side-by-side. Take a third sandwich and cut it in half. Place the two halves down so that the first layer is the length and width of a loaf pan.


Make the peanut butter frosting (originally posted in the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake post. (Basically, you mix the ingredients listed above.) Spread a layer of the frosting over the ice cream sandwiches.


Then spread a thin layer of hot fudge sauce over the peanut butter frosting.
Repeat those three layers (sandwiches, peanut butter, fudge sauce). Finish with one last layer of ice cream sandwiches.

Wrap the cake with the aluminum foil and freeze for a couple hours. When you're reading to serve, frost with Cool Whip.

The cake has some pretty cool layers when you cut into it.

Serves about 10.

Holiday Rice Krispie Treats

Looking for a really fast, really easy Christmas treat? Here's an easy way to "holidayize" your rice krispie treats.

Holiday Rice Krispie Treats

I won't even bother putting the whole rice krispie treat recipe on here since you can find it on every box of Rice Krispies, not to mention most marshmallow packages.

Here's how to "dress them up." First, cut up some red and green maraschino cherries into quarters. I found the green ones at Target.

Then make the treats as usual. As soon as you've pressed them into a greased pan (I think I used a 9 x 13 pan), press one red cherry quarter and one green cherry quarter together into the treat before it cools. Do this every two inches or so, depending on how big you want your treats to be.

Once the treats have cooled completely, cut them up so that the cherries are at the center of each piece. Immediately store them in an airtight container if you don't want them to dry out. I've also found that using a little more butter and marshmallow than the recipe actually requires also helps keep them moist.

If you want to dress up your presentation of the treats, use muffin cup liners like I did in the photo above. Enjoy!

Mini No-Bake Cheesecakes

Due to "Cattapalooza" this past weekend, my entries for this week are a little late. On the bright side, I baked a lot, so I’ve got two recipes to share!

First up are these mini no-bake cheesecakes. I looked at a lot of recipes online before I decided on this one. It’s basically Martha Stewart’s recipe with the amounts adjusted to fill mini muffin tins versus a springform pan.

The good news about this cheesecake recipe is that it tastes great and contains no eggs. That bad news is that, like many other no-bake recipes, it didn’t get really firm, so it really needs to stay refrigerated until you’re ready to serve it.

No-Bake Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients for crust:
1 package (10 sheets) graham crackers
5 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar

Ingredients for filling:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the graham crackers in a resealable plastic bag. Crush them with a rolling pin until the crumbs are very fine. (When I got near the end, I used a sifter to help me find the larger crumbs that needed some more smashing.)

Pour the crumbs into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and melted butter. Press the crumbs into mini muffin cups. I used the end of a shot glass to help me press the crumbs down.

Chill the crust in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese at a medium-high speed until smooth. Slowly beat in the condensed milk, scraping the bowl as necessary. Then beat in the lemon juice and vanilla.

Scoop the filling into the muffin tins and refrigerate at least 2 ½ to 3 hours.

Yields: about 40 mini cheesecakes

A few extra hints:
*Instead of using spoons or a cookie scooper to get the filling into the mini muffin tins, I put the filling in a decorating bag and just squeezed it right in.
*In the picture, you’ll notice that some of the mini cheesecakes have a pink topping. I added a Cherry Cool Whip topping just before the party. It was simply the “Strawberry Mousse Filling” with the cherry cake and pastry filling instead of strawberry.

No Bake Cake

I made this cake for Father's Day. My hope was to create an egg-free, nut-free cake that my nephew could still eat despite his allergies. Wouldn't you know all he ate was the Cool Whip frosting? That's O.K. Everyone else liked it! :)

No Bake Cake

Ingredients:
a box of graham crackers
4 small packages of Jello Instant Pudding (I used chocolate)
5 cups of whole milk
one tub of Cool Whip

I started with a 2-1/2 quart bowl, but you could easily adjust this recipe for a bigger or smaller bowl.

1. Line the bowl with two long sheets of plastic wrap. Leave enough hanging on the edge so that you can cover the top later.

2. In another bowl of about the same size, mix the packages of pudding with the five cups of milk. Whisk for at least two minutes and let set for a few minutes.

3. Put a layer of graham crackers on the bottom of the bowl lined with plastic wrap. Cover these crackers with some of the pudding. Keep layering the graham crackers and the pudding until you reach the top (or run out of pudding). Just be sure you have enough graham crackers to make a double layer on the top.

4. Fold over the extra plastic wrap to cover your creation. Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. It helps if you place a plate with a weight (like a heavy bottle or can of pop) on top of the bowl. This will push the graham crackers down some and help them to soak up the pudding.

5. When you are ready to serve, lift off the top layer of plastic wrap. Place a serving tray on top of the bowl and quickly flip the two of them over together. Lift off the bowl and remove the plastic wrap.

6. Frost your creation with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with candy decorations, if desired.

Serves 12.