No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake combines the flavor of pumpkin and warm spices with the light mousse-like texture of a no bake cheesecake all on gluten free sweet cracker crust. It's a quick and easy way to add a delicious homemade pumpkin dessert to the holiday dessert table.
Look, I love baked cheesecake. I've made hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. But, confession time: sometimes, I don't always have the time. And, sometimes, I just crave the lighter, mousse-like texture of a no bake cheesecake. Also, let's just say that life gets extra busy starting in October. So this no bake pumpkin cheesecake with a gluten free crust is a quick fix for your holiday pumpkin cravings. As a bonus, the crisp crust is gluten free. [If you want a regular crust on your no bake cheesecake, you can easily use the crust from my baked pumpkin spice cheesecake recipe.]
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Ingredients
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy whipping cream
- Pumpkin puree
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Gluten free sweet crackers
- White sugar
- Salted butter
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions
- Powdered sugar - the powdered sugar in no bake cheesecake makes it extra fluffy and light. You can easily substitute white sugar for a less airy texture.
- Gluten Free Crust - you can use other sweet crackers or cookies for the gluten free crust. Please read the section below titled Gluten Free Crusts and the Squeeze Method on how to make cracker substitutions.
- Regular Crust - if you want a no bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, you can substitute the regular graham cracker crust from my Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake recipe.
Gluten Free Crusts and the Squeeze Method
For this no bake pumpkin cheesecake with a gluten free crust, I use one of my favorite gluten free sweet crackers: Simple Mills Honey Cinnamon Sweet Thins. They're made from a seed and nut flour blend. My Costco and my regular grocery store both currently carry it, but what if your store doesn't? How would you make a crust with a different sweet cracker? There are three main ingredients in a crust: the sweet crackers, a little white sugar for binding and melted butter. The amount of sweet cracker crumbs and the white sugar will stay the same. However, the amount of butter may change depending on the fat content and other ingredients in your sweet cracker of choice. Start with 4 tablespoons of melted butter to 1 ½ cups of gluten free sweet cracker crumbs and 2 tablespoons of white sugar.
Once the sweet cracker crumbs, white sugar and butter are combined, grab a handful and squeeze tight. If it mostly stays together, you're good! If it doesn't stay together and crumbles, add extra butter (one tablespoon at a time) until the mixture stays together when squeezed. But, if you accidentally added too much butter and the squeezed mixture is greasy, then add more cracker crumbs. I promise, it is that easy. The Squeeze Method hasn't let me down yet.
Equipment
To make the best cheesecake, a stand up mixer or hand held mixer is needed. Also, a springform pan is super helpful if you want to take the cheesecake easily out of the pan.
Storage
Store the no bake pumpkin cheesecake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days.
Next Level Tips
- Always use room temperature cream cheese!
- You can skip par-baking the crust, but I don't recommend skipping it. Par-baking your crust only takes 6 minutes. It will keep your crust together and maintain the crispiness of the sweet crackers. It will also help you easily remove the bottom of the springform pan.
- For best results, allow the cheesecake to set overnight.
FAQ
Yes! However, you can carefully speed up this process if you forgot to set out the cream cheese. Most microwaves now have a soften option. You can carefully soften the cream cheese in the microwave to room temperature but not melted.
One of the reasons that we par-bake the crust is so that we can easily remove the bottom of the springform pan without the curst crumbling. After the rim of the springform pan is off, take a cake lifter (or metal pizza peel or a very large spatula) and gently slide it in between cheesecake crust and the bottom of springform pan. Don't lift the cheesecake up in the air (especially if the whole crust is not supported). Rather, use the cake lifter to slide the cheesecake off of the springform bottom onto the serving plate. You can buy a cheap cake lifter on Amazon or at a Hobby Lobby type store in the baking section. If you're using a large metal spatula, run it under the entire outer edge first before using it to slide the cheesecake.
No! It's not truly necessary to fold in whipped cream for no bake cheesecakes especially if you start with room temperature cream cheese. Room temperature cream cheese is naturally thinner and easier to mix. So we start by mixing in all the other ingredients slowly. The filling is thin enough that we can add the heavy whipping cream in to the mixer last and slowly turn up the mixer until it's at medium-high to high. We beat it on high all together until medium peaks form. For no bake cheesecakes, this works even better than folding in whipped cream as there is no chance that it will deflate. And, as a bonus, it's a lot easier and quicker! My favorite kind of bonuses!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gluten Free Crust
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ½ cups gluten free sweet cracker (like Simple Mills Honey Cinnamon Sweet Thins) crumbs
- 4 tablespoon salted butter
- 2 tablespoon white sugar
Cheesecake Filling
- 24 ounces cream cheese (3 blocks) room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar* see notes
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice** see notes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Make the crust
- Preheat the oven to 325℉. Spray an 8 inch springform pan with cooking spray.
- Use a food processor to grind the sweet crackers into mostly fine and small crumbs.
- Mix the sweet cracker crumbs, melted butter and 2 tablespoons of white sugar together with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Add the sweet cracker mixture to the springform pan. Pat down flat with hands or a flat bottom measuring cup. It should be packed firmly but not too hard.
- Bake for 6 minutes and set aside to cool.
Make the Filling
- Place the room temperature cream cheese into the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until creamy and all lumps are gone. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Add the powdered (or white) sugar to the cream cheese in the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Next, add the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt to the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Add the heavy whipping cream to the mixing bowl. Increase the mixing speed until you get to medium high to high. Mix on high until light and airy and medium peaks start to form. Approximately 3-5 minutes. Watch closely once filling starts to fluff up.
- Pour the filling on top of the crust in springform pan. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight.
Top the cheesecake
- After 6 hours, or preferably the next day, run a knife around the edges of the springform pan. Remove the rim. Also, remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan (see FAQ if needed) if so desired.
- Top with favorite topping if so desired or leave it plain. No-bake cheesecakes are already light and airy, so I usually skip the whipped topping. Often, I will break up more sweet crackers and sprinkle them on the top for a bit of decoration and extra flavor like shown in the photos.
Notes
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
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