Strawberry Crunch Cheesecake
A delightful combination of creamy cheesecake and fruity strawberries, perfect for gatherings.
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 lb vanilla cream cookies (about 34 cookies, divided)
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
For the Filling
- 1 small box (3.3 oz) strawberry gelatin
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 bricks (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 10 cookies (about 4 oz) strawberry wafer cookies
Topping
- 1/2 small tub whipped topping, thawed placed into a pastry bag with a star tip
Instructions
Crust Directions
- Take 26 vanilla cream cookies and place them in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs form.
- Add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix until you achieve a wet sand-like texture.
- Press this mixture evenly into the bottom of a greased 10" springform pan.
- Freeze the crust for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling.
Filling Directions
- In a small bowl, combine boiling water and gelatin. Stir for 2 minutes until fully dissolved, then set aside to cool (avoid refrigerating).
- In another bowl, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whip heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Fold half of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, and the other half into the cooled gelatin mixture.
- Pour half of the strawberry mixture onto the frozen crust and freeze for 15 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese layer, followed by the remaining strawberry mixture on top.
- Coarsely crush any remaining vanilla cream cookies and strawberry wafers. Mix them and sprinkle on top.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
- Optionally, top with whipped cream when ready to serve.
Notes
For best results, allow cream cheese to come to room temperature before mixing. Fresh strawberries provide a brighter flavor, but frozen strawberries can also be used.