My original idea for this recipe spawned from trying to think of more 4th of July inspired recipes I could pass along to all of you sweet treat lovers. But these mini frozen lemon raspberry no-bake cheesecakes are sooo good {and simple} to make that I may be making these on repeat for the rest of the summer!
Summertime is my absolute favorite season for many reasons. Early morning runs, eating and drinking outside with friends and family, new swimming suits and boating, my birthday, our wedding anniversary and farmers markets. Madison has an amazing farmers market, which inevitably leads to the best summer produce at an affordable price.
Raspberries are by far my favorite summer fruit. When they’re perfectly ripe they have just the right amount of sweet to tart ratio with a burst in your mouth juiciness. The best part about raspberries in the summer? How cheap they are! I usually can never stomach paying $5 for 6 oz of raspberries in the winter knowing that: A. they’re not that good, and B. they’re so much cheaper in the summer!
So for this recipe I knew I had to include raspberries somewhere. Their coloring is perfect for a red, white and blue recipe, but also for a nice pop of color if you’re serving these at a summer-time cook-out. They combine so perfectly with cool, creamy cream cheese and add the ideal natural sweetness to the recipe.
The lemon cookie has a surprise little ingredient in there that you might not have thought of. No, it’s not chickpeas, even though I do tend to use those a lot, like here and here. No, this cookie uses goat cheese. Now don’t turn your nose up or leave this recipe just yet! Goat cheese has a nice tangy flavor to it which makes it perfect for this recipe because it helps to mellow out the sweetness of the cheesecake. But it also pairs seamlessly with the tartness of the lemon.
Assembly is pretty simple for these cute mini cheesecakes, and only requires one mixing bowl. Mix together your lemon cookie ingredients and press into mini muffin tins. I used silicon molds because it was just slightly easier to pop the cheesecakes out once frozen. Pop those little lemon cookies in the freezer and get on to that cheesecake {I would say it’s the best part, but that cookie is pretty good too 🙂 }.
Wash out said cookie dough bowl and add your cheesecake ingredients. No need to even mash the raspberries ahead of time because they break down really quickly with the use of a hand mixer. Remove the lemon cookies from the freezer and spoon your raspberry cheesecake filling over the top. Place a few blueberries on top and stuff back in the freezer for an hour or two. These are best frozen, as the batter doesn’t set in the fridge like a normal cheesecake.
If you didn’t have a silicon mold, run a butter knife along the outside of the cheesecakes to pop them out. At this point you can serve them straight out of the freezer {which is exactly how I ate them…like 3 of them. They’re mini, so it’s not bad, right?!}. Just keep them in an container, on ice, at your next gathering.
I hope you enjoy these little beauties as much as I did, and if you make them, make sure to take a picture and #ionlycameforthecake on Insta!
- 6 oz honey goat cheese, softened*
- 1/3 cup natural sugar
- 3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 ½ medium lemons, juiced (about ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp.)
- 1 ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 8 oz room temperature low-fat cream cheese
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ½ cup organic powdered sugar
- 6 oz fresh raspberries
- ½ cup coconut cream**
- ¼ cup plain whole fat Greek yogurt
- 6 oz fresh blueberries
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In a medium-size bowl, beat together the goat cheese, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and lemon juice until smooth.
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Mix in the flour until well combined. Fold in the lemon zest.
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Press a heaping ½ Tbsp. of the cookie mixture into the bottom of 3 mini muffin tins and place in the freezer to set.
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Meanwhile, clean the cookie bowl and add the cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until very smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
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Add the raspberries and beat until they’re broken up and batter turns a pinkish red.
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Add the coconut cream and yogurt and beat for about 3-4 minutes until super smooth.
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Remove the cookies from the freezer and spoon the cheesecake mixture over the top. Top with fresh blueberries and place back in the freezer for an hour or two.
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Remove*** and serve chilled.
*Note: if you can’t find honey goat cheese, use plain goat cheese and add 1 Tbsp. honey to the batter.
**Note 2: if you can’t find coconut cream (located in the ethnic section of your grocery store near the canned coconut milk), you can also use heavy cream at a 1:1 ratio. Make sure to stir the coconut cream well before adding to the batter.
***Note 3: I used silicone mini muffin pans which made it easier to push the cheesecakes out, but you can also use metal pans and run a knife along the outside to pop the cheesecakes out.
