Bits & Pieces No Bake Cheesecake - A Creative Process

Today is Memorial Day.  I’d like to give a heartfelt remembrance to all of the brave souls who have lost their life serving our country. 

Sadly, we also must recognize the 97K + loved ones lost to Covid-19.  It’s hard to wrap your head around that number.  I pray for those souls and their families who are no doubt suffering from such an immense loss. 

Finally, I’d also like to honor the strength and courage of those on the frontline during this crisis.  They have kept our country going, saved lives and continue to put themselves in harm’s way.  Thank you! 



I whipped this dessert up to honor the day.  I call this “Bits & Pieces No Bake Cheesecake”.  The reference to “Bits & Pieces” means I’ve used up the small quantities of ingredients I had in my fridge, freezer and pantry.  This is more of a process than a recipe and you can easily replicate this and take it in a whole different flavor direction.

The Crust

• Make a crust just like you’d make a graham cracker crust – crumbs + melted butter.  I used over-baked signature Tinsel & Sugar Lemon cookies that were tucked away in my freezer.  Today they became a delicious lemon crust for this dessert.  It was about 2 cups of crumbs (half gallon bag of cookies) and 3 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter.
• Buzz up the cookies in the food processor to a small crumb, add melted butter and give it a couple of pulses until the mixture resembles damp sand.
• Press into an even layer in your pie dish.  Put it in the refrigerator while you make the filling.  

The Filling

• I had a handful of frozen blueberries, a small handful of sad fresh blueberries, and some beautifully ripe strawberries.  All got buzzed up in the food processor and then strained to remove the seeds and pulp.  Set aside.
• To complete the filling, I had one brick of reduced fat cream cheese, ½ brick regular cream cheese and ½ cup of mascarpone cheese.  All of the cheeses got buzzed up in the food processor along with a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk, juice of one small lemon and a tablespoon of vanilla.  After a couple of pulses, I added in the fruit puree and gave it a couple more pulses until smooth. 
• Pour the filling into the pie crust, smooth out the top with a spatula and then decorate as you wish.  Pop it in the refrigerator to let it set, preferably overnight.

The Result

• My cheesecake only set up for about 6 hours, so it would have been firmer if I’d let it go longer.
• My recommendation is to use 2 bricks of regular cream cheese as I believe it would give the cheesecake a firmer texture.  Having said that, we enjoyed the cake and I got the satisfaction of using up what I had on hand vs. heading to the grocery store.

​Happy Memorial Day!

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