No Bake Cranberry Cheesecake
This delicious No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake is the perfect dessert for the holidays! It's made with a simple graham cracker crust, a sweet cream cheese layer swirled with homemade cranberry sauce, and then topped with sugared cranberries. Creamy, beautiful, and bursting with cranberry flavor.
Ingredients
For the cranberry sauce:
- 1 cup cranberries washed and drained
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the crust:
- 2 cups graham crumbs
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the cheesecake layer:
- 24 oz cream cheese softened (750g or 3 packages)
- 4 cups cool whip (a 1L container)
- 1 1/4 cups icing sugar (i.e. confectioners sugar or powdered sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
For the sugared cranberries topping:
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 1/4 cup sugar divided
- 2 cups fresh cranberries washed and drained
Instructions
Make the cranberry sauce:
- To make the cranberry sauce, add all of the sauce ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring as cranberries begin to burst.
- Continue to stir until cranberries have all burst and the sauce begins to thicken. [You can help the process along by squishing softened cranberries against the side of the saucepan as you stir.]
- Remove the cinnamon stick. Remove from heat and let the sauce cool. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Once cooled, place the sauce in a food processor or blender to puree the cranberries (a smoother sauce is ideal for swirling into the cheesecake). Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Prepare the crust:
- Line the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add the graham crumbs, melted butter and sugar and mix together. Press the graham crust mixture evenly onto the bottom of the pan and place in the fridge to chill.
Prepare the cream cheese layer.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the softened cream cheese until fluffy. Add the cool whip, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and mix until smooth.
- Spread half of the cream cheese mixture evenly over the graham crust. Spoon 1/2 cup of the cranberry sauce over the cream cheese layer and use a butter knife to gently swirl the cranberry sauce into the cream cheese.
- Repeat this process with the remaining cream cheese mixture and another 1/2 cup of cranberry sauce. Gently "jiggle" the cheesecake to remove any air pockets.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours to set.
Prepare the sugared cranberries:*
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, place the water and a 3/4 cup of sugar. Simmer together for about 5 minutes, whisking often until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the cranberries to ensure they are coated well in the syrup. Let them soak in the syrup for about 10 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cranberries to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Allow them to cool for 1 hour.
- Place the remaining sugar in a bowl. Working in small batches, roll the cranberries into the sugar. The cranberries will be sticky and so the sugar should easily adhere to them.
- Add the sugared cranberries on top of your prepared cheesecake and serve.*
Notes
*Note: Sugared cranberries are best added to decorate your cake just before serving. If you are making your cheesecake a day ahead, you can make the sugared cranberries the day you intend to serve the cheesecake. Alternatively, you can store the sugared cranberries in the fridge overnight, however, because of the condensation from refrigeration, they may start to look wet and the sugar may slide off of them. If this happens, you can toss the cranberries in more sugar.
**The calories are likely less than is shown in the recipe card. The recipe card includes the full amount of sugar from the sugared cranberries, however, most of the sugar syrup the cranberries soak in is discarded. [I like to strain the leftover syrup and refrigerate it. It is great for sweetening teas, coffees, and cocktails.]
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
Calories: 547kcalCarbohydrates: 67gProtein: 5gFat: 30gSaturated Fat: 17gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 400mgPotassium: 162mgFiber: 2gSugar: 54gVitamin A: 1068IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 102mgIron: 1mg
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
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