The first time I saw mason jars used to make mini-desserts I was in love! Make and serve these beautiful No Bake Cheesecake in a Jar desserts for your next party or just make a few to enjoy throughout the week. It’s a handy and delicious dessert and you won’t believe how easily it comes together.
These single serving desserts are the ideal size when you have a crowd or want to control how much each person is served. We also adore these when you don’t want any pesky fingers in everyone’s cheesecake.
🍽️ Why This Works
Easy | Mix up a batch of these in mere minutes. There are no complicated steps or tools, and it’s a no bake process too, so it’s really fast and easy.
Fast | It literally takes twenty minutes to throw these together and then you can put them in the refrigerator and forget about them until it’s time to eat. They do have to chill for about two hours before you consume them, but that’s perfect so you can make them well ahead of time!
Individual Servings | There are so many applications for our no bake cheesecake in a jar! You can whip up this recipe on the weekend, put them in the refrigerator, and have a beautiful dessert to take to work or enjoy throughout the week. You and your family members can each have their own jar and if someone doesn’t want to finish the whole jar all at once they can easily save half for later. If you are serving a crowd, these jars are easy to grab, easy to carry and eliminate shared serving utensils that can spread germs.
🍒 Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crumbs | Pick your favorite flavor of graham cracker crumbs, they come in several different varieties. You can even make your own!
Butter | Since this is not a recipe that can be dairy-free, make sure to use the real thing and take advantage of all that flavor.
Sugar | Regular granulated white sugar.
Heavy Whipping Cream | Make sure to find heavy whipping cream with at least 33-36% fat for best results.
Cream Cheese | Try to find a brand name cream cheese (or make your own Instant Pot Cream Cheese) since the generics sometimes have fillers and don’t have the same flavor or texture and might mess up your cheesecake in a jar.
Powdered Sugar | Did you know you can make your own powdered sugar? If you can’t find it in the stores or need it in a hurry, just put some regular sugar into your food processor or blender. It’s a one-for-one result, so measure the same amount of granulated sugar that you need in powdered sugar form and then pulse it in your device of choice until it turns to a powder. How’s that for a cool trick?
Cherry Pie Filling | Any can of pie filling will work or if you like to make your own you can do that as well.
Quick read: 20+ Sugars and How to Use Them
📝 Instructions
Step One: Add graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter to a mixing bowl and mix.
Step Two: Place crumb mixture in the bottom of the jar and compress. This serves as the base of the cheesecake.
Step Three: In another mixing bowl, add the heavy whipping cream and whisk until whipped peaks form and are firm. Do not over whip the cream.
Step Four: In another mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
Step Five: Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and fold until combined. Place mixture in the jars on top of the crust. Fill the jar.
Step Six: Set jars in the fridge for two hours.
Step Seven: Remove and top with cherry pie filling and serve.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Mixer | Feel free to use your KitchenAid large mixer or a standard hand mixer to pull the ingredients together on this one. A whisk alone will not work to incorporate all the ingredients.
Mixing Bowl | You will need something large enough to hold all of the ingredients.
Jars | There are so many wonderful jars to choose from so it will really depend on your occasion for using them.
Large Mouth 4 oz Mason Jars | These are gorgeous and perfect for Easter, baby showers or when you are entertaining.
Verones 6oz Pudding Jars | I love the straight lines of these so you can see all the goodness of your cheesecake inside. Use these when you want to serve your guests a good helping of yumminess.
Mason Jars 8 oz | When you want to go big, these are the ones to make. Your friends and family are going to go wild over the mega dose of cheesecake that can be packed into this little jar.
❗ Expert Tips
Make Your Own Graham Cracker Crumbs | If you cannot find graham cracker crumbs at the market, or you already have graham crackers you can make your own crumbs! Just put the graham crackers into a food processor and pulse it a few times until you get the crumb consistency you like.
Make a Mini Version | If you don’t want to make a pint-sized cheesecake serving, you can make cheesecake in a jar using small mason jars instead. Try the jelly jar size for a perfectly sized individual treat!
Variations | Don’t love cherry? You can make this recipe with endless variations! Choose any pie filling you love such as blueberry, lemon, or strawberry and use that instead. Or you can crush up Oreos or candy bars and use those. Grilled cranberry jam would be tasty! You can even use fancy syrups or marshmallow creme!
Pour on some chocolate ganache or sprinkle on some coconut. Try a combination of ingredients to customize your individual cheesecake jars. you might also love our Double Chocolate Muffin in a Jar.
Not a Fan of Graham Crackers | Switch things up by using a different ingredient for the crust. You can use shortbread, crunchy cookies, vanilla wafers, brownies, pretzels, or the ideas are endless!
Recipe FAQ
What a great question! Press the crust down on the edges of the jar to form a clean layer. When you start adding cheesecake filling, use a spoon and drop the filling in the center of the jar.
Do not try to press it down. Instead, tap the jar to settle the filling down over the crust layer. If you try to press it down with a spoon, parts of the crust will pull up with the spoon and give it a messy appearance. Take the same approach with the cherry topping – place it in the center first to avoid messing the jar edges.
Using two spoons to help it along as well so you aren’t scraping the sides.
Make sure you have oven-safe jars first. If your jars are safe for the oven, you can definitely bake the crust for a few minutes to add a little crunch.
Another option would be to toast your graham cracker crumbs in the oven to crunch them up a little bit before filling the jars.
Your delicious dessert will last three to five days in the refrigerator until it starts to get weepy.
Yes! Simply choose gluten-free graham crackers, or any crunchy gluten free cookie like the GF ginger snaps to form your crust.
Yes! Simply freeze them before you add the cherry topping for up to three months. When you pull them out to thaw and serve you can add the pie filling at that time. Look for jars that have a SNOWFLAKE on them. That is the code they are freezer safe like we did for the Freezer Smoothies.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Cherry Cheesecake in a Jar
Equipment
- Jars
- Mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
- 1 stick Butter
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 10 ounces Cherry Pie Filling
Instructions
- Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Divide the crumb mixture in the bottom of the jar and compress. This is the base of the cheesecake. Substitute Nilla Wafers, Golden Oreos or whatever crumb crust you like on your cheesecake.
- In the second mixing bowl, add the heavy whipping cream and whisk until whipped peaks form and is firm. Do not over whip the cream. This will generally take 2-3 minutes with a mixer.
- In the third mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mix and fold until combined. Place mixture in the jars on top of the crust. Fill the jar.
- Set jars in the fridge for two hours to set up.
- Remove and top with cherry pie filling and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
So simple yet delicious! I brought this to a potluck dinner and it was a hit!