I have Brianne here from Cupcakes and Kale Chips, who has kindly given me the most delicious looking post with No-Bake Mini Creamsicle Cheesecake Parfaits. Wow, these look stunning!! Brianne and I have history together, we have known each other for a few years now, but I will let her explain all that. I would love it if you followed along on her blog and on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram! She would be excited to hear from you. I now give the floor to Brianne, you will love this recipe, and I am excited to share it with you!
No-Bake Mini Creamsicle Cheesecake parfaits are simple miniature desserts perfect for any spring holiday or party with a creamy cheesecake layer and the burst of citrus. Plus they can easily be made gluten free.
Hi Noshing with the Nolands friends, I’m Brianne from Cupcakes & Kale Chips. If you haven’t read my blog before, you should know that I believe life is all about balance, so when I’m not busy chasing around two crazy little boys or dealing with their constant demands for food and the piles of dirty dishes that are a result of their unending appetites, I’m in the kitchen whipping up everything from healthy dishes like Baked Cauli-Tots and Cinnamon Caramel Apple Energy Balls to totally indulgent recipes, like French Onion Soup au Gratin Stuffed Meatballs or Flourless Nutella Cheesecake Swirl Brownies. I also have a wheat allergy, but can’t be bothered with buying and using a bunch of special ingredients and products, so I like to say that I make delicious food for anyone to enjoy that also just happens to be gluten free.
Normally I start out any guest posts by telling you how excited I am to be here, but let’s be honest, while I am excited to be here, I’d rather be there, meaning traipsing around Europe with Tara and her family. I mean, she’s seeing amazing sights, enjoying fabulous food, sipping wonderful wine, and just in general having an incredible time, and I’m sitting here in sweats, drinking a smoothie, and thinking about an afternoon full of grocery shopping, dinner cooking, kid wrangling, lunch prepping, and all of that fun mom stuff. Come on, where would you rather be?
But enough lamenting. Really, I am happy to step in for Tara. We connected way back in the early days of both of our blogs. In fact, we even did a recipe exchange – I made her Chicken Souvlaki Dinner and she made my Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie. We have kept in touch over these years through Sunday Supper and just blogging life in general, and it has been so fun to see how much we have both learned and grown in so many ways – photography, recipes, and where we have taken our blogs from our early days just doing it as a hobby and turning it into more. So when she asked me to step into her kitchen today, of course I had to say yes, despite my jealousy 🙂
I’m also excited to share these fabulous little desserts with you…
OK, I’ll be honest, I’m typically a chocolaty, peanut buttery, Nutella-y, fudgy, caramel-y, ooey, gooey dessert kinda gal, but I truly loved these No-Bake Mini Creamsicle Cheesecake Parfaits, as did the rest of my family, who are usually in my camp when it comes to desserts. I actually made them at the same time as I made my No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake Shooters, and it really was a toss-up as to which one we liked better. But after several failed attempts at making macarons, I had a bunch of egg yolks laying around and a few grapefruits that my hubby asked me to buy and then never ate. Not being one to waste food, I reached out to my foodie friends for inspiration, and Vanilla Bean Grapefruit Curd was born. But, the recipe made a lot, so as I was making those Nutella cheesecakes, I thought I’d start topping a few with the grapefruit curd – stroke of brilliance, my friends, pure brilliance!
Seriously, guys, make this curd. Obviously if you need a super quick dessert, grabbing a jar of lemon curd from the store will work just fine, or if you are overloaded on citrus fruits, you can make any flavor curd. But really, Vanilla Bean Grapefruit Curd is so the way to go – the luscious custard texture and vanilla flavor means that you get just a nice punch of sweet citrus flavor, not the tartness you might expect from grapefruit. So it tastes especially amazing with the creamy, slightly tangy cheesecake mixture.
And as I mentioned earlier, I am the easy gluten-free girl. So for the “crust” layer, you can use crushed graham crackers, almond meal, or the, ahem, aforementioned macaron failures, should you suffer the same fate as I did.
No-Bake Mini Creamsicle Cheesecake Parfaits
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 8 oz. cream cheese (regular or light), at room temperature
- ½ cup + 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon + ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream, divided
- About 12-16 (3/4-1 cup) Tablespoons graham cracker crumbs, almond or hazelnut meal, or crushed macarons
- About 1-1½ cups of homemade or store-bought lemon, lime, or other citrus curd, such as this Vanilla Bean Grapefruit Curd
- Place a glass or metal bowl in the freezer to chill. Have 12-16 shot glasses, tiny bowls, or other mini dessert glass ready to fill.
- In a medium bowl, add the Greek yogurt, cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and ¼ cup heavy cream, and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Set aside.
- Add the remaining ¾ cup heavy cream, 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract to the chilled bowl and whip with a whisk or hand mixer to form soft peaks. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
- Place about 1 Tablespoon of the crumbs or meal in the bottom of each serving glass.
- Place the cheesecake mixture in a pastry bag or large heavy duty plastic storage bag and cut off the tip or corner, or carefully use a spoon, and divide evenly between the serving glasses.
- Top each one with 1-1½ Tablespoons of the curd (you can again use a pastry bag or heavy duty plastic bag).
- Place the whipped cream in a pastry bag or large heavy duty plastic storage bag and cut off the tip or corner, or carefully use a spoon, and top each of the serving glasses.
- Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Enjoy!
And if you liked this recipe, you might also enjoy these…
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- Mini Banana Nutella Cheesecake Parfaits
- Creamsicle Jello Mold
- Vanilla Bean Cheesecake No-Churn Ice Cream
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