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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

No Bake Pineapple Cheesecake

Desserts! What a joy, what a treat, what a dilemma.  I have a love/hate relationship with them. I absolutely love sweets in just about any shape and form except anything with cooked fruit or licorice. Other that that they are fair game, but I seem to have no will power over them.  And yes, I know about moderation and enjoying all things in moderation, but I don't seem to have the necessary brakes to enjoy a small slice of cake when the whole blooming thing is left staring at me.

I have solved this by limiting my sugar consumption to one week every two months. And guess what week this is!?!?! Not only is it dessert week, but TheHub is out for dinner meetings every night but Friday, so I can make whatever I want. (Though he is coming home and having dessert with me he has no say in whatever it is.  After all he is eating white tablecloth meals while I am having a hunk of cheese and whatever cold leftover veggies are in the fridge) I can tell the week is almost over, because I have overdone chocolate and actually wanted something lighter tonight. (Hmmm, I guess I could forgo dessert entirely right? Nah! It's in the rules and I do play by the rules, sometimes.)

No-Bake Pineapple Cheesecake in a Jar
(Totally wrong name, it should be pineapple
mousse based on it's taste and texture)

1 pack instant Jello cheesecake pudding mix
1 small can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup additional pineapple juice
1/2 carton cool whip
graham cracker pieces

Pour the pudding mix in a bowl add the pineapple, juice and all and the additional pineapple juice.  Mix with a wire whisk until it is nice and thick and, well, pudding. Fold in the 1/2 tub of cool whip. Now here is the tricky part, not. Place the graham pieces in the bottom of a small mason jar (if you are so inclined) or a bowl or parfait dish. I don't care and I am pretty sure the pudding doesn't either.  Glob 1/8 of the mixture on top of the grahams in each bowl or jar. Sprinkle more graham bits and glob on the remaining pudding between the 4 servings.  Top with a dollop of whipped stuff and eat.

This tastes absolutely nothing like cheesecake, but I didn't really expect it to because it is made with instant pudding mix. I do not buy mixes as a rule and I sure as heck don't buy instant pudding mix except for nanaimo bars which I make every Christmas. Somehow I bought the cheesecake by mistake and have been wondering what to do with it ever since. I randomly followed a link back in the no sweet months, saw a recipe that called for cheesecake pudding mix and mentally filed it. While I was looking through the pantry today I saw the pudding mix, remembered it, and now it is dessert.  I am not sure if the original instructions had pineapple juice or not, but I had some so I added it because it seemed too thick without it. I also had no graham crackers, but did have a box of graham crumbs (also for the nanaimo bars) in the freezer. I just sprinkled them in the bottom of the parfait glass put some pudding mixture the sprinkled a few more before adding the second glob.

It is a tasty, light dessert with a defined pineapple flavor. The graham crackers/crumbs lend a tad of crunch to what would otherwise be just an airy fruity mousse.  If you have some cheesecake pudding mix hanging in your pantry this is a pretty tasty way to get rid of it, just don't expect anything near cheesecake flavor or consistency.

I will try to make this again using cream cheese and superfine sugar, with real whipped cream.  I think it would taste much better, but honestly it was not bad at all.  In fact, as much as I hate to admit it, it was kind of good. And yes I licked the bowl, that's how I know what it tasted like.  The actual parfaits are still in the fridge. (And yes, I left a rather hefty taste, well over a tablespoonful but only because I believe in truth in reporting! Yeah, that's it!)

15 comments:

  1. I hear you on the no willpower front. So I try very hard to abstain from dessert. Himself loves them, so I insist he gets ones I don't like. Which mostly works. Sort of works. Sometimes works...

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    1. I can make peach cobbler for TheHub every day of the week and never want it, so that is my go to dessert for him. It's the ice cream he likes on top of it that kills me.

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  2. How do you wait so long for dessert?

    My mum used to make a dessert like this, it's lovely and light for summer

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    1. It is just something I have become accustomed to doing. But watch out on my sugar week. It is like I am on tour!

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  3. This is a variation on a Minnesota fruit "salad"! Vanilla instant pudding, fruit cocktail in syrup, mix well,blend in coolwhip. It will be at ever Ash Wednesday supper after a Lutheran church servuce and on picnic buffets all summer.Minnesota finest.

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    1. Woo hoo! I ate salad for dessert and didn't even know it.
      Alabama has some of those "salads" too, but they are usually jello, cream cheese, nuts and fruit heavy.

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  4. I hate licorice and moderation. Both are terrible!!

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    1. I can't tolerate licorice at all. I don't know if I hate moderation or not because I don't seem to ever practice it.

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  5. That looks yummy, but everything tastes better with real whipped cream.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Yes it does, in fact I bought cool whip just to make this and I will not make that mistake again

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    2. Cool Whip is virtually tasteless.

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  6. This sounds really easy for the nights you want something sweet, but don't want the effort!!

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  7. I do like these icebox type of desserts, especially the creamy pudding/whips mixed with crushed pineapple. In general I don't care for box mixes either, but that combination of pudding or cool whip and crushed pineapple just tastes so good to me.

    I am impressed with your willpower. I would probably just eat the bowl. Although I will say that immediately portioning stuff out does help me to just eat one portion and my brain understands that there is no more for me now. The tricks you sometimes have to play on yourself...

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    Replies
    1. I play them all the time! I am actually so full, I am ready to go back to a no sugar couple of months!

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