{Light} Strawberry Pineapple No-Bake Cheesecake

Because sometimes you just want to eat cheesecake and not feel guilty about it. Or just because it’s absolutely delicious.

Summer is all about light, fresh flavours and juicy fruit.

And bathing suits.

So, really, it’s win-win.

I saw the original recipe for this dessert on Kraft Canada, but it just seemed like it was missing something. Or quite a lot. Mind you, the original recipe is 90 calories for 1/12 of a 9×13″ pan. That’s pretty swell.

But the pieces just looked a little thin and underwhelming, like you’d feel like you’d only eaten 90 calories and needed 2 or 3 more pieces to really feel like you’d gotten your dessert.

I immediately thought I had to add some cream cheese. Why not turn this into a no-bake cheesecake? Ain’t nobody who doesn’t love a no-bake cheesecake. Especially in the heat. In bathing suit season.

I originally thought I would do the pineapple and coconut thing, for my husband who loves the flavours of a pina colada. But it turns out I only had strawberry or cherry yogurt, and I also had a basket of fresh strawberries that I hadn’t even dug into yet. Strawberry and pineapple it is.

I just love the combination of strawberry and pineapple. I mean, fresh fruit is the epitome of summer, am I right? Especially strawberries. It seems like you can get a somewhat decent pineapple on and off year-round here. But strawberries? Like cardboard come fall.

This cheesecake is light, refreshing and full of fresh summer flavour. Perfect for those of us who are in denial about there only being a couple more weeks of summer holidays left.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours, 20 minutes

Yield: 12 pieces

Calories per serving: 185 calories per 1/12 cheesecake

A light, creamy dessert perfect for summer when fresh fruit is abundant.

Ingredients

• 15 graham crackers (enough to cover bottom)
• 8-10 strawberries, thinly sliced (enough to cover bottom)
• 8 oz light cream cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1 box instant vanilla pudding (4 serving size, fat free, sugar free, or regular)
• 1 1/2 cups drained, crushed pineapple (or fresh, finely chopped and drained)
• 3/4 cup low-fat strawberry yogurt
• 2 cups light whipped topping, divided

Instructions

1. Line a 9x13" pan with a single layer of graham crackers (left whole, unless you need to break them to fit the pan). Top with a single layer of slice strawberries.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add milk and pudding mix, and beat until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary.
3. Stir in pineapple and yogurt. Slowly stir in 1 cup of whipped topping.
4. Spread in the pan over the strawberries.
5. Top with remaining cup of cool whip. Refrigerate at least 6-8 hours so that graham crackers can soften and become cake-like. It can be made ahead and frozen, too.

Adapted from Kraft Canada.