The Simple Addition That Effortlessly Elevates No-Bake Cheesecake

No-bake cheesecakes are among the easiest, most satisfying desserts to make. With just a few ingredients and a bit of patience, you can make a creamy, delicious dessert that's highly customizable. You can add different ingredients to change the flavor such as substituting vanilla with other extracts or using a variety of biscuits and cookies to make the crust. But here's a cool new trick to elevate this simple treat into a striking and unique dessert: Using freeze-dried fruit to add a burst of color and flavor. Simply whiz the fruit in the food processor or blender to turn it into a fine powder that you can effortlessly blend into the cream cheese mix. You can even measure the sugar in your cheesecake recipe and process it along with the fruit to make it even easier.

Using freeze-dried fruit has many advantages in a no-bake cheesecake. Because it has no moisture, freeze-dried fruit won't alter the consistency of the finished product. It's also free of added sugar, so you can better control the sweetness of your cheesecake while providing a more concentrated and bright, fresh fruit flavor. Last but certainly not least, it will add a vibrant natural color to your cheesecake, with an ample palette of hues and flavors from which to choose.

Thanks to the variety of freeze-dried fruits available, you can create fun flavor combos to try. Think about adding freeze-dried banana powder to this no-bake strawberry cheesecake recipe, or use freeze-dried strawberries if fresh ones are out of season and not flavorful enough. Freeze-dried cherries or raspberries would add a nice hint of tanginess to this salted chocolate cheesecake, and if you've never tried chocolate and passion fruit together, this is your chance to discover this fabulous flavor pairing. 

Freeze-dried fruit will offer opportunities to make cheesecakes that might not work well when using fresh fruit that is too wet, like kiwi or pineapple — think about a piña colada in cheesecake form, for instance. With the holiday season upon us, how about a marbled white chocolate cranberry cheesecake? Simply mix freeze-dried cranberry powder with half of the cheesecake mix, then swirl the two carefully for a festive presentation. You can even get more creative by layering different color and flavor combinations to amp up the wow factor or use powdered fruit sugar when making the cookie crust. And here you thought freeze-dried fruit was just a healthy snack, eh?