For family and friend get-togethers, I’m usually charged with bringing dessert. Which is a-okay with me, because I love myself some sweets. Even more, I love finding simple recipes that I can throw together quickly but look like I drudged in the kitchen for hours.
For Labor Day, I spent a luxuriously lazy day with some of my closest friends hanging out on the water, followed by an uhh-mazing dinner. We finished up with these mini lemon blueberry cheesecakes I adapted from this recipe.
Keep reading for the super simple rundown…
Originally, I planned to use Vanilla Wafers as a base and throw some raspberries on top. But as I stood in the cookie aisle searching for gluten-free ginger snaps for my friend, Lauren, I spied these all-natural lemon cookies and scooped them up instead. Then when I got home, the raspberries I bought weren’t as sweet as I’d hoped, so I swapped them for fresh blueberries.
Sometimes the best recipes are the ones you throw together on the fly.
Making the cheesecake filling takes about 3 minutes. Put a package of softened cream cheese in a bowl. Toss in half a cup of sugar. Break out the hand-mixer and beat the cream cheese and sugar together until it’s smooth.
Then fold in a tub of thawed Cool Whip.
You’re done.
I like foil baking cups for these kinds of recipes, because they’re sturdier and hold thick fillings better than their paper brethren. Drop a cookie into the bottom of each baking cup, then spoon in the cheesecake filling. Top with fresh blueberries (or raspberries; or get crazy and use both!) and stick them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve them up.
The great thing about this recipe — besides the compliments your friends will shower upon you for your kitchen skillz — is there are endless ways to shake it up. Experiment with different cookies, add flavors or syrups to the filling, or top with chocolate, candies, fresh whipped cream, crushed cookies, whatever!!
What do you think?