Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake has two of the most popular Holiday Season ingredients – Cranberry and Eggnog! This recipe combines both in a no-bake cheesecake. A classic graham cracker crust is the base, with a layer of cranberry jam spooned onto it. Then comes a light, almost mousse-like, eggnog flavored cream cheese on top. Then finish it with fresh and sugared cranberries, and mini sprigs of rosemary.
Make Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake ahead of time. Serve it as an after dinner dessert or mid afternoon with a cup of coffee. It’s low sugar content allows the flavors to shine.
What a wonderful way to celebrate the Holidays!
Ingredients
Here’s everything you will need to make Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake.
- Graham cracker crumbs, purchased already ground or buy the cracker sheets and grind them in the food processor like I did.
- Salted butter.
- Cranberry jam, I used homemade jam using this recipe.
- Cream cheese left out of the refrigerator in order to reach room temperature. This will make the blending of the cream cheese and cream easier and quicker.
- Sugar, very little is used in this recipe. The eggnog is already sweetened and the graham crackers have a sugar content of at least 16%, so only a little is added to the cream cheese topping.
- Eggnog, use store bought or homemade.
- Heavy whipping cream.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Grind up the graham crackers if not pre-ground. Use a food processor (quickest) or place them in a sealable bag and break them up using a rolling pin. Melt the butter (microwave is the easiest) and add the butter to the cracker crumbs. Blend well together and transfer into a deep pie dish. Even out the bottom and sides.
To ‘set’ the crust or base, you can either put the pie dish in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 8 minutes OR place it in the fridge for 1 hour. (The butter in the crust hardens as it cools and in doing so sets the crust.)
Spread the Cranberry Jam evenly over the bottom of the crust.
Using a hand mixer, stand mixer or hand whisk, whip the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour in eggnog.
In a separate bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until peaks can be formed. Using a metal spoon, add the whipped cream to the bowl containing the cream cheese and eggnog.
Folding
The next step involves ‘folding.’ No, it’s not laundry time, just a tried and true way of incorporating one ingredient into another set of ingredients without loosing any air. Air makes the ‘cheese’ part of the cheesecake, fluffy and light.
To fold, simply run the metal spoon down the center of the mixture from north to south scrapping the bottom of the bowl. When the spoon is at the southern part of bowl, scoop the mixture up and lift the contents of the bottom of the bowl, in this case blended cream cheese and eggnog on top of the whipped cream. Rotate your bowl about 20 degrees and repeat. By rotating the bowl, this ensures a more homogenized blending of all the ingredients. Work slowly to produce a light fluffy mixture. When fully blended transfer to the pie dish. Smooth the cheese mixture over the jam layer, make a design if you wish, then refrigerate.
Decorate the Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake once it has cooled in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I used fresh and sugared cranberries which are quite heavy, so firming up the cheesecake helps with this.
Flexibility
If you don’t have or like graham crackers then use any type of cookie crumb, I recommend oatmeal cookies. Pretzel crumbs, crushed saltine crackers, ground up uncooked oatmeal or ginger snaps. You can also use any combination of these substitutions. The goal is to have fine uniform pieces that will combine well with butter.
Olive oil, or coconut oil are good substitutes for butter. If using them add in a pinch of salt.
The homemade Cranberry Jam recipe on this website is ideal for this recipe, but store bought cranberry jam will also work. At a pinch use cranberry sauce.
Cream cheese is the best ingredient for the cheese part, it literally is the cheese in the cheesecake. If cream cheese is not your thing, then use puréed cottage cheese or thick Greek yogurt, both of which should be strained through a cheesecloth to remove as much water as possible. Mascarpone is an excellent substitute, also crème fraîche.
Use any sweetener instead of sugar. Add a teaspoon at a time and check for sweetness level. My favorite sugar substitute is honey.
With eggnog I feel that there is no real substitution. If you don’t like the flavor or eggnog, then perhaps a Vanilla Sauce could be used. The Vanilla Sauce recipe in this website would be an excellent replacement for eggnog.
Use whipping cream if you don’t have heavy whipping cream. Heavy whipping cream has a higher fat content and produces a richer, creamier result.
Uses for No Bake Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake
It can be served as a dessert after any meal, especially a festive holiday meal.
Consider using the same ingredients and quantities and making individual cheesecakes with silicone cupcake liners for easy release. Doing this will yield about 12 cheesecakes.
This cheesecake can be placed in the freezer for 1-2 hours to produce a firmer cheese filling. By doing this you’re making a ‘semifreddo’ which is a frozen mousse. It almost feels and tastes like a different dessert!
Equipment
There’s no special or unusual equipment needed for this recipe. Just a pie dish and an electric hand mixer.
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Storage
This Cheesecake will store well in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months. Be sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap and defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
A Tip From Me
Folding in one ingredient to another is a time honored baking skill. Two or more bowls of ingredients are combined in such a way as to not knock the air out. The lighter of the two mixtures (typically whipped cream or meringue (beaten egg white and sugar)) is added to the heavier mixture.
Folding involves running a metal spoon down the center of the mixture, all the while scrapping the bottom of the bowl. Scoop the heavier mixture up and over the lighter mixture to blend the two. Rotate the bowl about 20 degrees and repeat until the two mixtures are well blended. Work slowly to produce a light fluffy mixture.
Got Questions?
I’ve got answers – hopefully!
- How do you know if a no bake cheesecake is set? Give it a slight jiggle and gently (with immaculately clean hands) touch the surface of it. Chilling it in the refrigerator will help it set faster and firmer.
- What should I do if the cheesecake is not firm enough? I recommend placing it for about 30 minutes in the freezer. That is long enough to improve firmness but not enough to freeze it. As I mentioned in the ‘Uses for No Bake Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake’ section, consider storing it in the freezer for 1-2 hours to produce a ‘semifreddo’ which is a frozen mousse.
- Can I make this cheesecake crustless? Certainly, just omit the graham cracker crust and prepare the jam and cheese mixture. You might want to consider serving the jam on top of the cheesecake part (put the cheesecake part in the freezer to set, then add the jam.) Swirl the jam into the cheese mixture to create a marble effect for a different look.
No Bake Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 oz graham cracker crumbs
- 2 oz salted butter
- 7 oz cranberry jam
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 4 oz eggnog
- 16 oz heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Grind up the graham crackers if not pre-ground. Use a food processor (quickest) or place them in a sealable bag and break them up using a rolling pin. Add melted butter to the cracker crumbs. Blend well together and transfer into a deep pie dish. Even out the bottom and sides.
- To 'set' the crust or base, either put the pie dish in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 8 minutes OR place it in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Spread the Cranberry Jam evenly over the bottom of the crust.
- Whip the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour in the eggnog.
- In a separate bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until peaks can be formed. Using a metal spoon, add the whipped cream to the bowl containing the cream cheese and eggnog.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture (refer to 'Instructions' section for more information how to fold.)
- Decorate the Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake with fresh and sugared cranberries and sprigs of rosemary.
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