Quick-to-make Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries are the perfect sweet snack with fresh berries, creamy filling, and graham cracker crumble!
Rich, velvety Cheesecake is one of the best Dessert recipes of all time. There’s just no beating that amazing texture and flavor. But we don’t always have the time to bake a whole cheesecake, and sometimes you want something a little different. Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries is the perfect way to get all the flavors you love from cheesecake made into unbelievable strawberry cheesecake bites.
This delicious treat is inspired by the creamy filling in a classic Cheesecake Recipe. By adding the cream cheese mixture to the center of juicy strawberries, you get an easy and crowd-pleasing party Appetizer or dessert. Perfect treat for Valentine’s Day!
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries Recipe
To make these Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries, you’ll need fresh strawberries, a few ingredients for the cheesecake mixture, and graham cracker crumbs. After combining the rich cream cheese filling, you’ll pipe it into the center of hollowed-out strawberries. Then sprinkle buttery graham cracker crumbs over the top to mimic the taste and texture of Cheesecake Crust. The thick, creamy, tangy cheesecake filling tastes incredible with the sweet, fresh fruit, and the crunchy graham cracker mixture is the perfect finishing touch.
This easy strawberry dessert is perfect to serve before or after dinner at your next dinner party. They have an elegant look and taste amazing, but they’re super quick to make, and their bite-size nature makes them easy to share. You can put out a tray of Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries at a holiday party, potluck, or any get-together. For more party favorites, try easy finger food recipes like Chocolate Cheesecake Bites, Rum Balls, and Buckeye Balls.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese: You’ll make a bulk of the cheesecake filling with cream cheese. Be sure to soften 8 ounces of cream cheese before starting this recipe. Soft cream cheese will easily blend with the other ingredients and form a fluffy mixture, whereas cold cream cheese is difficult to mix the sugar into. You can use low-fat cream cheese or a dairy-free alternative if desired.
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar: This is the perfect sweetener for this recipe. As you beat the fine-ground sugar with the cream cheese, it creates a light, fluffy consistency and doesn’t weigh down or make the mixture too thick. You can adjust the amount of sugar to suit your taste.
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice: Lemon juice adds a refreshing citrus flavor to the cheesecake filling, and the acidity reacts with the cream cheese to help the filling maintain its thick structure.
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract enhances the overall flavor of the filling with its warm and sweet aroma. You can use vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence as a substitute.
- 1 pound Strawberries: Strawberries are the main ingredient. Wash, hull, and core 1 pound of strawberries before starting the recipe. To pick the best strawberries for this recipe, look for medium to large berries with a shiny surface, minimal yellow spots, and green leaves.
- ½ cup Graham Cracker Crumbs: Graham cracker crumbs create a crunchy and sweet topping for the stuffed strawberries, adding texture and a hint of cinnamon flavor.
- 1 tablespoon Sugar: Sugar in the graham cracker crumb mixture contributes to the sweetness and helps bind the crumbs together.
- 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter: Melted butter binds the graham cracker crumbs and sugar together.
Kitchen Tools and Equipment
- Mixer: A hand mixer or stand mixer is essential for achieving a smooth and creamy cheesecake filling efficiently. Ensure that the cream cheese and other ingredients are well combined.
- Piping Bag: A piping bag makes it easy to fill the strawberries with the cheesecake mixture neatly. You can also use a zip-top plastic bag with a corner snipped off as a makeshift piping bag.
- Mixing Bowls: Use large mixing bowls for preparing the cheesecake filling and the graham cracker crumb topping.
- Tray or Platter: You’ll need a serving tray or platter to arrange the stuffed strawberries for presentation. Ensure it has enough space to hold all the strawberries without crowding.
- Bowl and Spoon: A bowl and spoon are necessary for mixing the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter to create the topping. A simple mixing bowl and a regular spoon or spatula will suffice.
How to Make
Time needed: 15 minutes.
- Prepare Strawberries and Filling
To start, take the cream cheese out of the fridge, so it has time to soften. Then add your fresh strawberries to a colander. Rinse strawberries in cold water. After letting the strawberries dry, use a sharp paring knife to hull and core them. In a large mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Use a hand mixer to beat until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag for easy filling.
- Fill Strawberries
Take the hulled and cored strawberries and pipe the cheesecake mixture into the top of each strawberry, generously filling each one. Place the filled strawberries on their sides.
- Create Graham Cracker Topping
Seal the graham crackers in a ziplock bag, and use a rolling pin to break the crackers into coarse crumbs. You could also put the crackers into a food processor and pulse them until they’re broken into crumbs. In a separate bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted unsalted butter until you have a crumbly mixture.
- Add Topping
Sprinkle the graham cracker crumb mixture evenly over the cheesecake-filled strawberries.
- Arrange and Refrigerate
Carefully place the stuffed strawberries on a serving tray and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. Enjoy your delicious Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries!
Can This Be Made Ahead?
You can typically make Cheesecake-Stuffed Strawberries ahead of time and refrigerate them for up to 24 hours before serving. However, for the best freshness and texture, it’s recommended to consume them within the same day or within a few hours of preparation if possible.
Nutritional Facts
How to Store
Storing
Don’t leave Cheesecake Strawberries at room temperature for more than 2 hours. If you’ve made the recipe ahead of time or need to store leftover strawberries, you can place them in an airtight container to store in the fridge. The Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries can keep well in the fridge for 3 days.
Freezing
Unfortunately, the cheesecake filling won’t freeze and thaw well. In the unlikely event that you haven’t finished the recipe within a few days, it’s best just to make a fresh batch.
Frequent Questions
To core the strawberries, start by hulling the top. This is the process of removing the green stem portion of the top. You can use a specified hulling tool for this or a small paring knife. After removing the top, you can scoop out the center of the strawberries using a teaspoon scoop, paring knife, or the same hulling tool.
The best way to soften cream cheese for Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries is to leave it on the counter until it comes to room temperature. To speed up the process, you can slice the block of cream cheese into smaller pieces and spread those small blocks out. The small pieces of cream cheese will soften much faster than a large block.
Yes, you could use this cheesecake filling with other kinds of fruit. Pitted peaches or nectarines are good options. However, most fruits aren’t as easy to stuff and serve as this strawberry version. Instead, you can serve the cheesecake filling like a dessert dip with apple slices or layer blueberries and raspberries over the filling and eat it like a parfait.
If you don’t have a piping bag, you can still fill the strawberries quite easily. Simply transfer the cream cheese mixture to a ziplock bag. Then cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. You can pipe the cream cheese mixture into the strawberries using the plastic bag.
If only a few berries have gone bad, you don’t have to throw out all the fruit. Remove the strawberry with the mold on it, along with any of the berries that were touching it. As far as the rest of the berries, as long as they don’t have any mold, you can keep them for later. Wash the strawberries in cold water, then dry them before storing them. If a third or more of the berries have gone bad, it’s time to throw the whole bunch away.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pound strawberries , hulled and cored
To Finish:
- 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
Instructions
- Add cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract together in a large mixing bowl.
- Using a hand mixer beat the mixture together until smooth.
- Add mixture to a piping bag.
- Pipe into the top of the strawberries, where you've cored them out.
- Place on their sides.
- In a bowl mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter.
- Sprinkle over the cheesecake filling.
- Place gently onto serving tray and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- Click on the yield amount to slide and change the number of servings and the recipe will automatically update!
- Click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
- To convert measurements to grams, click on the Metric option next to Ingredients in the recipe card.
Nutrition
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Variations
- Chocolate Topping: To make this recipe with a delicious chocolate addition, you can sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the cream cheese filling. You could also use chocolate shavings if you prefer smaller pieces of chocolate. Or, if you want chocolate throughout the recipe, try mixing the chocolate pieces into the cream cheese filling.
- Crumb Topping: If you prefer, you can replace the graham crackers in the crumb topping with cookie crumbs. Crunchy cookies like vanilla wafers will work well. You could also use Oreos if you want a chocolatey, crunchy cookie topping for the Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.
- Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries: Another way to enjoy a chocolate version of this recipe is by combining the cheesecake stuffing with Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Start by washing and drying the strawberries. Then hull and core the strawberries before dipping them in melted chocolate. Let the chocolate coating dry completely before adding the cheesecake filling.
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