No-bake Frozen Strawberry Cheesecake

Something about highs in the 80s makes me want to keep my oven turned off.


[That's right, highs in the 80s. Weep for our hot summer. It's Canada.]




















I wanted to find a good dessert for the John's-gone-for-the-weekend brunch, and then this recipe came up on The Kitchn. The blog where the recipe originally appeared is written by some pretty artsy, camera savvy Europeans. They take amazing pictures, and they seem to know how to make dessert taste good without involving a million calories.


Like the name implies, you don't have to heat anything up to make this recipe. In fact, if you know how to work a blender, the rest is pretty easy. Blend some fruit. Mix in some marscapone. Put it in a pan. I even bought ground almonds to ease the pain of having to grind almonds myself (I know, my life is hard). I think next time around I'd skip the dates for the crust and make it almonds-only. I also didn't use coconut oil because I have NO clue as to where to buy it. But I'm sure that a food processor could make the dates smaller and that coconut oil would be really flavorful. I just used corn oil and called it a day.

I definitely don't feel as guilty eating this, knowing what's in it, and I will probably try it again, maybe with another berry.


No-bake Strawberry Cheesecake
from Green Kitchen Stories.

Crust:
2 cups almonds
10-12 pitted, fresh dates
2 tbsp coconut oil (I used canola oil, a little more than 2 tbsp)
pinch of salt

Filling:
2 cups fresh (or frozen) raspberries and strawberries (I used two cups strawberries only)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup honey
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup quark or curd (I used plain, lowfat yogurt. Greek yogurt with more fat would probably have worked better)

Grind almonds in a blender or a food processor for about a minute. Add dates, coconut oil and salt and run the processor until it all comes together. Flatten it out on the bottom of an 8-inch non-stick spring form. Store in the fridge while you make the filling.

Blend berries, lemon juice and honey. Stir together mascarpone, curd and the blended berries in a large bowl. Pour it on top of the crust in the spring pan and put it in the freezer for 1-2 hours (you can keep it in the freezer for days but then you have to let it soften a bit before you serve it) .

Top the cake with fresh fruit. Serve immediately.