What do you get when you send Charlie Brown to Mexico?

You get a no-bake Pina Colada Cheesecake in December.

Duh.

We had some good friends over the week after Christmas, and decided to pull off a Mexican night…with our Christmas decorations. It worked. I think. 🙂

This was such an easy recipe – no bake cheesecake also means – no crack cheesecake. 🙂 Thanks to my Pampered Chef recipe files, this recipe graced our holiday table – maybe it can make an appearance on yours too! (Although – if you wait until the 5th of May, I wouldn’t be offended.)

For the crust, you’ll need:

1 cup loosely packed sweetened flaked coconut

10 creme-filled vanilla sandwich cookies

2 tbsp butter, melted

Crush up those cookies and mix them with the melted butter and coconut.

Press them into the springform pan, then stick it in the fridge while you work on the filling.
(I used a torte pan, but I think a springform one would work much better.)

Then for the filling, you’ll want to combine a 1/4 cup of sugar with 2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese. You can use your hand mixer…or come over and borrow my new KitchenAid. 🙂

Cream those two ingredients together until they’re nice and smooth.

Meanwhile, zest a couple of limes, until you get a Tbsp of zest.

Add to it a quarter cup of lime juice (I juiced the fresh limes I had just zested.), and 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin. Let them sit for about 3 minutes, then microwave it on high for 20-30 seconds – just until the gelatin is dissolved.

Put a 1/2 cup of thawed frozen pina colada drink mix into your bowl.

Add an 8 oz container of pina colada yogurt. (If you can’t find that flavor, coconut or lime would work.)

Add in your gelatin mixture, and you’ll notice your cheesecake filling getting thicker pretty quickly.

So go ahead and pour that filling over your crust. (Pull that crust out of the fridge first…it might be awkward if you don’t.)

Refrigerate your cheesecake for 2 hours or overnight. This is a great time to get your table ready. 😉

I sliced up some kiwis and strawberries, and whipped up some heavy cream. Any fruits you really like would work, though – Mangoes might be especially yummy!

Layer your fruits on the top of your cheesecake, and that’s it – you’re all done!