Beautiful summer berries make these festive no bake cheesecake shooters perfect for your Memorial Day or 4th of July bbq!

Hi all, I’m Kari and I’m so glad to be here today 🙂 When Meaghan said she was looking for someone to do a guest post about desserts, I was thrilled! I love desserts, but typically stick to making easy weeknight dinner recipes over at Crazy Cat Girl. I’m a HUGE fan of cheesecake (who isn’t?) and have a recipe using a shortbread cookie crust. I knew these Berry Cheesecake Shooters were meant to be after seeing Meaghan’s Key Lime Pie Dessert Shooters.

The Inspiration for the Berry Cheesecake Shooters

Growing up, my mom would make the no-bake cheesecake recipe off the cream cheese package and then top it with canned cherries. These shooters use FRESH strawberries and blueberries (pick them up at a farmers’ market in your area to get them super fresh and in season!). The real “twist” from the traditional cheesecake is the crust – which isn’t crust or graham crackers at all, but pie crumble (like the sweet crunchy goodness on top of pies – yes!!). You can portion up the layers of pie crumble, berries, and cheesecake however you would like, using more or less of each in each shot glass.

What should I put the cheesecake shooters in?

A tip for the shot glasses: I actually got glass candle holders with one of those sale coupons from a craft store or you can find them at a dollar store. You can reuse them in the future for candle votives and there is a great DIY project to make your own polka dot or swirl votives (they make awesome gifts!).

The red, white, and blue theme of these Berry Cheesecake Shooters is perfect for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, but taste good year round!

Berry Cheesecake Shooters with Pie Crumble

Yield: 0

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Ingredients

• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 ounces whipped topping, about 1/4 of the regular size container
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/8 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. For the Pie Crumble: In a medium-size bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and cinnamon. Cut the butter into pieces and press into the dry ingredients using a fork (you can also press together with your hands). Work the butter and dry ingredients together until clumps form.
3. Place the crumble onto an aluminum foil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent crumble from burning or getting too dark.
4. Remove crumble from oven and set aside to cool.
5. Wash and dry the strawberries and blueberries. Chop the strawberries into bite size pieces. Optional: In a small bowl, mash up ⅓ of the strawberries with 1 teaspoon of sugar, then stir in the remaining chopped strawberries (this will give you a little bit of strawberry “sauce”)
6. While the crumble is cooling, make the cheesecake filling. Place softened cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer set at medium-high speed until smooth.
7. Beat in the condensed milk a little at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
8. Either fold the whipped topping in with a spatula or mix in with the mixer on low speed until well combined.
9. Sprinkle a spoonful of the cooled crumble into the bottom of each shot glass. Add a spoonful of cheesecake, a spoonful of blueberries, another spoonful of cheesecake, and finally a spoonful of strawberries. Chill for 15 minutes before serving. To Serve: top with additional pie crumble or whipped topping.

Notes

If you have leftover pie crumble, use it on top of oatmeal, yogurt or ice cream!

This recipe will make 6-10 shooters, depending on the size of the shot glass. To make larger portion sizes, use mini-mason jars instead of shot glasses (you can get 4-6 servings depending on the size of the mason jar you use).