No Bake Berry Cheesecake

     This past weekend, my Aunt Louise was in town so my parents had a little picnic to get some of our family together.  I had pinned this cheesecake on Pinterest just because I thought it was pretty and I was itching for a reason to whip it up.  So Sunday morning, Arnauld and I went to the grocery store bright and early and I spent the rest of the morning making a major mess in the kitchen.  With more counter space, you can really spread out and my big sink sure holds a lot of dirty dishes!
    The recipe I was working from did not use conventional US measurements, so I found myself pulling the calculator out to try and convert deciliters and grams into things like cups and tablespoons.  Not everything converted very evenly so I improvised.  Also, when I first made the cheesecake filling based on my calculations, the mixture was very watery, so I added more cream cheese.  The ingredients listed below reflect the changes I made.  Since this is a no bake recipe, I don't think you can really mess it up.  So if you wanted to add more berries or different fruit all together, I'm sure it would all work out fine!
     So the family picnic was a lot of fun.  It was nice catching up with my aunts and uncles and also my cousin Brett and his family.  The kids had a blast playing together and it was a great day for everyone.
    
No Bake Berry Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from blog.jelanieshop.com

Ingredients
Crust
2 rows of Oreo cookies from a 15.5 oz package plus 5-8 additional cookies
1 cup butter, melted
Cheesecake
2 packages cream cheese
7.5 oz ricotta
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
zest of a lemon

8-10 large strawberries
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup raspberries

Method
1. Crush 2 rows of cookies in a food processor until finely ground.  Mix in butter.
2. Press cookie mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan (the bottom should be wrapped in plastic wrap or parchment paper.)  Place in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
3. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, combine cream cheese, ricotta, heavy cream, sugar, and lemon zest.  Mix until smooth and creamy.
4. Puree the strawberries in the food processor.  Mix the strawberries with half of the cheesecake mixture.  Pour on top of the cookie crust you placed in the freezer.  Return to the freezer for 30 minutes.
5. Puree the blueberries and raspberries in the food processor.  Mix with the remaining cheesecake filling.
6. Separate the remaining 5-8 Oreos and place on top of the strawberry layer of the cheesecake.  Then add the blueberry/raspberry filling.
7. Place entire cheesecake in the freezer for about 6 hours.  Remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving.

 The Taste Test
     I thought this cake was delicious.  It needed a little longer than 30 minutes to thaw out, although it tasted good frozen too!

The boys.

My Dad with his big sisters.

The whole gang trying to deflate the pirate pool.