A Jell-O No-Bake Cheesecake with Glazed Fruit Topping, Part I

I am sure many of you have, at one time or another,  made one of these Jell-O No Bake Cheesecakes.


I rather like them.  Of course, there is nothing like making your own cheesecake in the oven, but these are great to have around in a pinch if you have last minutes guests or if you just want something sweet in the refrigerator for the week.  I recently made one and decided to add a little "umph" to it.


First, we start with the crust mix.


Into a mixing bowl with the contents of the packet and two tablespoons of white sugar.


Next thing to do is to melt 4 tablespoons of salted butter.  I LOVE these little 4 tablespoon size sticks of butter.  They just took regular sticks of butter of cut them in half.  Very handy.


Into a little cast iron melting pot on top of the range.  I no longer microwave.  I no longer have a microwave.  I replaced it with one of these new countertop convection ovens, which I adore.  We can talk about that in another post.  You really do not need a microwave.  This is what I am finding out and really something that I've known for some time.


While the butter is melting, combine the crust mix and sugar together.  I find that a clean hand works better than anything else for this job.


Once the butter is fully melted, ...


..., add it to the crust and sugar mixture.


Mix thoroughly.


Press crust mixture on the bottom and up the side of a 9" pie plate.  Do not "compact" the crust.  You do not want it rock hard.  I have found that if you buy cheesecake from the bakery, the crust is usually so compact and hard that it just takes away from the flavor of the cake.  Press the crust in place, ... lightly.  Once done, place the pie plate in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.


Now to the filling.  It comes pre-measured in this pouch.


Just add 1-1/2 cups of cold milk, ...


..., and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 3 - 4 minutes.  You want the filling to be thick.


Like this.  You want it to look like this.


Remove the graham cracker crust from the refrigerator and place the filling inside the crust.  Use a large spoon from your everyday flatware for this.  Flatware sets usually come with teaspoons and tablespoons.  Use the tablespoon size.  I use the back of the spoon to smooth out the filling and get it all the way to the edges of the crust.


Cover with Glad Press and Seal cling wrap.  I like that the best.  It is easier to work with than traditional cling wrap and it does a superb job of sealing out air.

If you wanted, you could simply stop right here.  You could leave this in the refrigerator for at least an hour and then slice and serve.  I find these box mixes to be quite delicious on their own.  But if you want to jazz it up and impress your guests, then add a glazed fruit topping.

I am going to make this a two-part post.  We will stop here and tomorrow we will add the glazed fruit.


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