With a little direction and supervision from mom, and some help with the electric mixer, this is a recipe easy enough for your kids. (Or use one of those hand crank egg-beaters!) My daughter made it for a delightful dessert to share with friends.

No-bake Strawberry Cheesecake

19-20 graham crackers, crushed
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup strawberries, chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1 – 3oz pkg strawberry gelatin (jello)
1 – 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup extra strawberries for garnish, sliced

Grease 8 or 9″ round pan or pie pan. A loose bottomed cake pan is ideal.

Put graham crackers in a clean, empty bread bag and crush with a rolling pin. Place crumbs in a bowl. Melt butter in a glass pyrex measuring cup in the microwave and pour over graham cracker crumbs. Mix together well and press into the bottom of the greased pan. Set aside to cool, or place in fridge while you make the filling.

Chop the strawberries (you can use a regular table knife) and place in a pot with the sugar and water. Heat to a simmer and cook until stawberries are nice and soft, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add strawberry gelatin. Stir well to dissolve. Set aside to cool. (To speed cooling, place in fridge for a few minutes – not too long, you don’t want it to start to set up).

Remove cream cheese from fridge and let sit at room temperature until softened somewhat. Beat with a hand-held electric mixer until smooth and creamy (alternately, use an egg-beater or whisk). Pour in cooled (about room temperature) strawberry sauce mixture and blend well.

Beat cream with hand mixer or egg-beater (or a whisk if you have lots of energy!) until stiff peaks form. Fold it gently into the cream cheese and strawberry mixture until well blended. It will be a consistent pink color without chunks or white patches. Spread evenly on top of the graham cracker crust.

Put in fridge for at least 2 hours to set. If you are going to be leaving it in the fridge overnight, cover with plastic wrap.

To serve, remove from pan if using a loose bottomed pan, or just cut into wedges and serve with fresh sliced strawberries on top. Add an extra dollop of whipped cream if you like. Yum!

Note: If you don’t like the idea of using flavored gelatin/jello, try increasing the quantity of strawberries and sauce, and use plain gelatin rather than flavored.