When is National Cheesecake Day? How about EVERY day!

I am always looking for things to make on a smaller scale.

My husband and I have six kids. That is a lot of sandwiches and sheets of Rice Krispy bars. But, there is value in having things be a bit more scaled back now that the last one is getting ready for his last year of high school.

Instead of making a spring form pan of this cake, I made three small ones. I kept one out and froze the other two later.

How cool will that be to have someone unexpectantly stop in and be able to whip this out of the freezer?

Yeah. Pretty amazing.

REAL DEAL NO BAKE LEMON CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

CRUST

• 2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

FILLING

• juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup) (zest it before juicing!)
• 1 package unflavored gelatin (about 7g)
• 2 packages light cream cheese
• 1 cup vanilla 0% Greek yogurt
• zest of 1 lemon (or 2 lemons for big lemon flavor!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup powdered icing sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream (not whipped)

Directions:
*NOTE: Baking the crust is completely optional. It just assures that it will hold together better. You can skip the baking if you want, it just won’t be quite as sturdy.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9″ Springform pan..

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter and press into prepared pan, and about 1″ up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes or just until dry. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. OR ..just press in pan and call it good. Afterall it is called Homemade NO BAKE Cheese cake!
2. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin evenly over lemon juice. Let stand for 1 minute.
3.  Microwave on high for 20-30 seconds until hot and whisk until dissolved.
4. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
   In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.
5. Add the Greek yogurt and beat until combined.
6. Add gelatin mixture, lemon zest, vanilla and sugar and beat until combined.
7. Add whipping cream and beat on low until combined, then beat on high for 3-5 minutes until fluffy and thickened (the mixture should hold stiff peaks on the beaters).
8. Pour filling into cooled crust, cover and refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours.
9. Serve with whipped cream and berries if desired!

Quick Tip: If you don’t have any Greek Yogurt, go ahead swap out for extra cream cheese.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Ashley at The Recipe Rebel