Say goodbye to the stress of holiday entertaining with this Peppermint No Bake Cheesecake that is sure to win over your crowd this holiday season! Just a few simple ingredients come together in a couple of easy steps to create this make-ahead dessert that is a total showstopper.
I really love cheesecake, and I have the blog posts to prove it. I went on a cheesecake tear last year and made this Tequila Lime Cheesecake (like a margarita in a dessert), these to-die-for Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes, this killer No Bake Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake and this crazy-good Vegan Baked Cheesecake. Not one to break tradition, I figured it was time that I keep the love alive with another recipe, this one holiday-inspired.
Jump to Recipe
Time is precious, and in honour of that truth, I went about creating the world’s easiest cheesecake recipe that is completely fool-proof, uses simple ingredients and can be made ahead to melt away those entertaining woes. As my hero Ina Garten would say, “now how easy is that”?
This Peppermint No Bake Cheesecake is:
- light and fluffy
- the perfect sweetness
- gluten free
- guaranteed to impress
How to Make a No Bake Cheesecake
The secret to a no-bake cheesecake was revealed to me by my aunt Connie, who shared her secret recipe with me years ago. While you can make a no bake cheesecake with gelatine, the other way to do this is by simply folding in whipped cream to the cheesecake mixture and refrigerating it. By far the most simple way my friends. While I haven’t tried using coconut whip to create a vegan no bake cheesecake, I would anticipate that it would work similarly (though have yet to confirm this).
What Type of Cream Cheese is Best for Cheesecake?
There are some lessons you need to learn the hard way, and I’ve learned more a few of those along my cooking journey. For cheesecake you want to use the brick cream cheese, not the tub variety that is softer. I once catered an event for 150 people and decided to use tub cream cheese in the icing recipe. Let’s just say that I didn’t have that much fun that night lol, it was a complete fail.
Peppermint No Bake Cheesecake
Peppermint No Bake Cheesecake
This simple no-bake cheesecake will be a new holiday favourite! I love how just a few easy steps and simple ingredients come together to make this no-fuss dessert.
Ingredients
Chocolate Crust
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (we used Oreo)
- 1/2 cup melted butter
Cheesecake Filling
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 2 250 g packages brick cream cheese
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- whipped cream for serving (optional)
- crushed candy canes for serving (optional)
Instructions
Chocolate Crust
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Combine the chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter together in a small bowl and evenly press into the bottom and up the sides of a 7" (or similar size) springform pan. Place in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
Cheesecake Filling
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In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat the whipped cream on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
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In a separate large bowl beat together the cream cheese, sugar, peppermint extract and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream until well incorporated and transfer the mixture to the prepared crust, smoothing it with the back of a spoon or spatula.
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Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight, lightly covered before serving with dollops of extra whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed candy canes if desired.
Could you replace the cream cheese with a vegan cream cheese if there is a dairy intolerance?
Hi Chelsey, you sure could. The only thing that may be tricky is the whipped cream but I think you could give pre-made coconut whip a try!
peppermint noble cheesecake looks so delicious
When you say you used Oreo cookie crumbs did you just blitz up the whole cookie, filling and all, or just use the cookie part and scrape off the icing? Thank you.
This looks delicious. I hope to make it for Christmas . Do you think it could be made ahead and frozen?
Hey! I sure do! It would be great frozen ahead.
Oh my goodness that sounds delicious!! And fairly easy! I think I might actually save and attempt this recipe!
Hi Shawna! It is the Oreo cookie crumbs you buy in a box in the baking aisle! I hope that helps!
Are those crumbs gluten free, since it says the recipe is GF. If not could you use GF graham ceackers. Thanks!
Hi Carol yes you would need to use gluten free graham crackers!
This looks delicious! Have you tried it with a graham cracker crust? Do you think it would still be tasty?
Hi Tori
I just made this cake however I couldn’t find my cheesecake pan so I made in a glass baking dish. My question tho is my whipping cream mixture with cream cheese seems to be very soft after a day . It’s not staying firm, can I freeze this even tho it has whipping cream in it. An6 thoughts on it getting so soft.
Thank you
Shar
Hi Shar, Yes you can freeze it for a bit – I haven’t tried freezing it for a longer period of time but it should work! It is a softer cheesecake!