Cheatsgiving Recipe Contest: No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake

This recipe is an entry in our Cheatsgiving Easy Recipe Contest. It comes to us from reader Maria N. Voting begins 11/21!

My mom still hosts Thanksgiving dinner in our family, and I have traditionally brought dessert. Once upon a time, I was an overachiever in the kitchen, and would spend weeks scouring the recipe books, looking for a unique dish that would show off my culinary prowess. I made flourless chocolate cake, pecan torte, baked pears in brandy…you get the picture. Each and every one a decadent masterpiece that was virtually ignored after everyone gorged themselves on too much turkey. I came across this recipe ten years ago and tested it against my frozen home-made orange sorbet served in individually scooped out orange rinds. This recipe came from a Google search of “no-bake” and stuff I already had in my fridge. It looked so disgusting to me when I was mixing it that I didn’t even lick the beaters before I served it.

Well, as you might have predicted, it was gone in minutes, unlike the labor intensive sorbet. Everyone raved about it and begged for the recipe. Now, with a full-time job and a toddler, it’s become my signature dish.

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

6 oz. graham cracker crust in an 8 or 9 inch pie pan
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup of lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 21 oz. can cherry pie filling

Directions: 

Beat the cheese with a mixer until it is fluffy, then beat in the condensed milk until it is smooth. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Pour entire mixture into crust. Chill for 4 hours or more. Spoon pie filling over it before you serve.

(Photo: Shutterstock)