My girlfriends have been pestering me to cook them something since I’ve been home, and to appease them I decided to make one of their favorites, an easy no-bake cheesecake. I usually put this together in a 9×13 pan, but instead of trying to coordinate six schedules to get together and eat, I decided to make minis in aluminum loaf pans.

Mini Cheesecakes

This recipe is from a cookbook called Just What the Doctors Ordered, a compilation of recipes from employees at the hospital my mom works at.  Interestingly enough, they are not all healthy!  I’ve made this cheesecake so many times that I’ve put my own twists on it, so I’ll go through it below.  I usually use strawberry pie filling for the topping, but it’s really up to you what type to use.  The original recipe suggests cherry, and I’ve made a 4th of July version of this with both blueberry and strawberry toppings.

Crust:

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
• 1 cup flour
• ~2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Filling:

• 2-8 0z. pkgs cream cheese
• 1 box powdered sugar
• 1 tub Cool Whip (12 oz)
• Canned pie filling of your choice (mine was strawberry)

For the crust, simply mix together all of the ingredients (the best tool for this job is your hands).  The dough will be gooey, so flour your hands accordingly.  Press the dough into the bottom of a greased pan–9×13 or 5 small loaf pans as I have here.  Bake at  350 for 15 min and set aside to cool.

For the filling, use a mixer to cream together the cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Fold in the Cool Whip with a rubber spatula.  Spoon the filling over the cooled crust and allow to chill for 3-4 hours.  Top with the pie filling of your choice