These No Bake Cheesecake Cups layer whipped cheesecake filling with your favorite fruit pie filling or dessert sauces and a crunchy graham cracker crumble topping. Easy to make (and make ahead) for a single-serve dessert portion on a weeknight or for entertaining!
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Why You’ll Love No-Bake Cheesecake Cups with Graham Crumble Topping
If you’re a fan of fruit-topped cheesecake with graham cracker crust, you’re going to love these mini No-Bake Cheesecake Cups. This homemade treat, inspired by the popular Cheesecake Crumble dessert cups sold at the grocery store, is a great way to satisfy a sweet tooth.
With a creamy, mousse-like filling, crunchy graham crumbles, and customizable flavor layer, you can have this satisfying dessert on the table in under an hour.
Here’s what we love most about these No-Bake Cheesecake Cups:
- They’re easy to assemble, and you can prep them ahead.
- They make an adorable presentation, whether you’re serving them to your family on a busy weeknight, or adding them to a dessert table for casual entertaining.
- Each bite is creamy, crunchy, and tastes perfectly indulgent!
- Everyone in the family can customize their cheesecake cups with the flavors they like, from fruit fillings to chocolate, and beyond.
- They’re a great option if you’re watching your portions. Each single-serving jar can satisfy a sweet tooth, without having a large cheesecake in the fridge.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cream Cheese. Use brick-style cream cheese (not spreadable or whipped “tub” varieties) to make the cheesecake filling, softened to room temperature. Both full fat and 1/3-less fat cream cheese will work well for this recipe.
- Confectioner’s Sugar. To sweeten the cheesecake filling.
- Sour Cream. To give the filling its characteristic cheesecake “tang”.
- Vanilla Extract and Fresh Lemon Juice. Classic cheesecake filling flavors.
- Heavy Cream. Chilled and whipped to stiff peaks, the cream will lighten the cheesecake filling for a fluffy texture.
- Fruit Pie Filling or Dessert Sauce. Layer the bottom of the jar with your favorite variety of store bought or homemade pie filling (such as cherry, strawberry, blueberry, or raspberry), your favorite dessert sauce (we love salted caramel), or even a dollop of Nutella.
- Graham Cracker Crumble. This easy-to-make, buttery crumble recipe is a staple in my kitchen. You’ll need about a quarter of a batch for these dessert cups (but I recommend making the full recipe and keeping some in the freezer; extra crumble is always devoured in my house!) Bake it in advance, or while you’re making the cheesecake filling.
How to Make the No-Bake Cheesecake Filling
Making the cheesecake filling is an easy 2-step process. First, whip the cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and powdered sugar in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. You can use your hand mixer for this, or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
In a separate bowl, whip the cold heavy cream to stiff peaks using a whisk or an electric mixer with clean beaters. When you lift your whisk or beaters out of the bowl, the whipped cream will stand up straight, without flopping over. Be careful not to over-whip, so the whipped cream isn’t grainy.
Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. I like to do this in two additions, first adding about a third of the whipped cream to lighten the overall mixture, and then folding in the remaining cream until it’s well-combined.
Want to brush up on your folding technique? Check out How to Fold Egg Whites or Whipped Cream Into Batter from Spruce Eats.
How to Assemble and Serve Your Cheesecake Cups
Once your cheesecake filling and graham crumbles are prepped, you’re ready to layer the dessert jars.
I find that 4 ounce jelly jars are the perfect size for this dessert; you’ll need 8 jars for the full recipe. For a larger portion size, use 6 ounce jars; you’ll get about 5 jars worth out of the recipe.
To assemble the Cheesecake Cups, place a rounded tablespoonful of pie filling or dessert sauce in the bottom of each jar. Then, fill the jars to the top with the cheesecake filling using a spoon, or a piping bag.
At this point, you can either serve the cups right away or put the lids on the jars and refrigerate them for later. The cheesecake filling will be light and mousse-like when serving immediately, and will thicken a bit with overnight refrigeration.
To serve right away, sprinkle the top of each cup with graham crumbles and dig in. My family likes to add a few extra crumbles to the cup as we’re eating them–we can never have too much crunch!
Recipe FAQ’s
Q. Can I make this recipe with whipped topping (such as Cool Whip) instead of heavy cream?
A. Yes, you can substitute 2 cups of thawed whipped topping for the whipped heavy cream. Bear in mind that frozen whipped topping is lightly-sweetened, so you might want to reduce the powdered sugar in the cheesecake filling by a tablespoon.
Q. How far in advance can I make the cheesecake cups?
A. You can partially assemble this dessert 3 days in advance of serving. Layer the jars with the fruit and cheesecake fillings, cover, and refrigerate. Top with the graham crumbles before serving.
Q. Can I change the order of layering so the fruit layer is on the top?
A. Definitely! I like the texture of the graham crumbles right on top of the cheesecake layer, so I assemble them similarly to a fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt cup (as the grocery store version of this dessert is sold). If you prefer to put the fruit or dessert sauce on top, feel free to switch it up!
More Reader-Favorite Dessert Recipes
- Vanilla Pound Cake
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
- Jam Bars with Oat Crumble Topping
- Miniature Apple Raspberry Pies
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No Bake Cheesecake Cups with Graham Crumble Topping
Ingredients
- 1/4 recipe Graham Cracker Crumble Topping (click underlined text for the recipe)
- 8 ounces brick-style cream cheese , softened to room temperature
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar (2 ounces)
- 1 cup heavy cream , chilled
- 1/2 cup prepared pie filling (such as blueberry, strawberry, cherry, or raspberry)**
Instructions
Make the Crumble Topping
- Prepare the Graham Cracker Crumble topping according to the linked recipe.
Make the Cheesecake Filling
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together softened cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and confectioner’s sugar until smooth and creamy.
- In a second bowl, whip chilled heavy cream to stiff peaks using a whisk, or with a mixer with clean beaters. When you lift the whisk or beaters, the whipped cream should create peaks that don't flop over. Be careful not to over-whip so the whipped cream isn't grainy.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture with a rubber spatula. I like to do this in 2 additions, first adding about a third of the whipped cream to lighten the mixture, folding in the rest once that's combined. For the best texture, fold the mixture gently, but thoroughly, so that the whipped cream doesn't totally deflate.
Assemble the Cheesecake Cups
- Add a rounded tablespoonful of pie filling, dessert sauce, or Nutella to the bottom of eight, 4-ounce jam jars.
- Spoon or pipe the cheesecake mixture into each jar, filling to the top.
- If serving immediately, sprinkle the graham cracker crumbles (a tablespoon or two) over the top of the cheesecake cups.
- If prepping ahead, place lids on the jars and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Top with the graham cracker crumbles when ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
About our recipes
Please note that our recipes have been developed using the US Customary measurement system and have not been tested for high altitude/elevation cooking and baking.
did I miss the crumble recipe? I didn’t see it
Hi Laurie, the crumble recipe is linked above in the ingredients list.
5 out of 5 stars on this recipe!! Most of the time we cannot find the brand name Philly c. cake crumbles in the store anyway.. so I went searching and found your recipe. Made it tonight. We loved it and compared it to the actual brand name from a few days ago. Great recipe you gave us and now I won’t bother to buy the brand name again. Thank you for your work in coming up with this copycat recipe. YOU nailed it, if you ask me. Thanks again. Loved your Graham cracker crumble topping too!