June 11th & 12th: Cheater, no-bake cheesecake

This is a perfect summer dessert: no baking, can be made pretty quickly with the help of a toddler and gets topped with loads of fresh fruit, whatever is in season! I pulled this out of Chatelaine in August 2004 and I've made it every other year or so since then. They call it Refrigerator Berry Pie. I find that description not clear enough. To me, this is much like a cheesecake, minus the baking side, and with only one package of cream cheese. The crust is made with gingersnap cookies and it is made in a pie dish rather than a spring form pan. The filling is cream cheese mixed with one small carton of whipping cream, whipped, so it is less dense than a cheesecake. It has to sit in the fridge for several hours, so Olivia and I made it Saturday night and enjoyed eating it Sunday afternoon. I wish I could say it lasted until Monday, but...

Fruit washed and ready to top the pie.

Greg and I kind of ate some Saturday night after Olivia went to bed.

But she didn't notice the next day as she helped me fill in the hole with fruit.