No-Bake Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

A few weeks ago my grandma fell and broke her hip. She had to have emergency hip replacement surgery. After she successfully finished physically therapy it was determined she couldn’t go home. She would need to be placed in an assisted living center.

Eight years ago I started this blog. At the time I was jobless and bored and needed some sort of meaning in life. The inspiration for this blog was my grandma. She began rooting through her recipes she had had for probably 50 years and would send me anything that she thought I might like. I would receive envelopes stuffed with folded recipes, some of them new; some of them old. Some of them hers; some of them ripped out of the local newspaper or a newspaper insert.

I haven’t lived near my family in almost 10 years so I wasn’t there when my family came together to clean out my grandma’s apartment. I would have liked to have sifted through what was left of her recipes. While they were cleaning and sorting my dad sent me a recipe for no-bake Oreo cheesecake that looked super easy. I already had most of the ingredients on hand and decided I should no-bake a cheese cake soon.

While this recipe is not my grandma’s no-bake Oreo cheesecake recipe it is inspired by it. I opted for a graham cracker crust instead of Oreo because I had graham crackers in my cupboard and not Oreos. Some day I will make the no-bake Oreo cheesecake because Oreos make everything better. This practice cheesecake confirmed that the recipe is a winner. I did bake the crust for the cheesecake but the rest of the method remains true to its name.

crust ingredients.

• 2 c. crushed graham crackers
• ½ c. ground walnuts (I used toasted walnuts because I had them on hand)
• 4 T. sugar
• ½ c. butter, melted

crust directions.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, walnuts, and sugar in a bowl and stir to mix. Add the butter and stir until all the ingredients are moistened.
3. Spread the mixture evenly on the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan, then press the mixture with your fingers or the back of a spoon on the bottom and sides of the pan to form the crust.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, just until golden brown and firm. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

cheesecake ingredients.

• 4 8-oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• ¾ to 1 c. sugar (I used 3/4 and felt that it could have used more)
• 1 8-oz tub of cool whip
• 1 vanilla bean, split, beans removed

cheesecake directions.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla beans in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in cool whip; spoon over crust. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.

Recipe rating: 