I was in the dairy section of my favorite grocery store the other day and found my new best friend:
Philadelphia No Bake Original Cheesecake Filling
This had ‘Buy Me’ written all over it! I took it home, forgetting the bread and milk I had gone to the store for, and started experimenting. I came up with a few fun (no-bake) recipes. Warning: I didn’t measure, so I am guessing at the quantities. But this is really no-fail. If you get too much cream cheese in there, what’s the problem? If you don’t get enough in there, add a cookie. Let’s get started!
First thing – add cupcake paper liners to a muffin tin. You don’t have to grease anything.
Second thing – assume ‘more or less’ with each quantity given.
Banana Puddin’ Mini Cheesecakes (here in the South, nobody eats Banana Pudding)
¾ cup cheesecake filling
4 Tbls. instant banana pudding (dry)
½ very ripe mashed banana
12 vanilla wafers
Fill the bottom of each of 4 cupcake liners with 1 crumbled cookie. Mix the cheesecake filling, pudding, and banana together. Fill the liners half full with the cheesecake filling mixture. Add another crumbled cookie and top with the remaining mixture. Top each with a whole cookie. The cookie serves as a Banana Puddin’ identifier.
Cookies and Crème Mini Cheesecakes
¾ cup cheesecake filling
12 Oreo cookies
Fill the bottom of each of 4 cupcake liners with 1 crumbled cookie. Finely crush 4 cookies (I put mine in a sandwich bag and pretended my mother-in-law was in there). Mix into the cheesecake filling and divide among the 4 liners. Top each with a whole cookie (Cookies and Crème identifier).
Turtles Mini Cheesecakes – my personal favorite
¾ cup cheesecake filling
2 whole graham crackers (the size that has 4 sections)
3-4 Tbls. mini chocolate chips
2 Tbls. chopped pecans
2 Tbls. caramel sauce (I used the squeeze bottle to make drizzling easier)
Fill the bottom of each of 4 cupcake liners with half of a crumbled graham cracker. Mix the chocolate chips with the cheesecake filling and divide among the 4 liners. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on the top and drizzle caramel sauce over the pecans (needs no identifier).