When I was a kid, nearly every picnic or outdoor family barbeque had an oddly shaped ring of fruit salad glob with chunks of Jell-o, marshmellows, and unidentified specs of color. Needless to say, I never so much as touched one, let alone ate any. However, as an adult, I was at a party and found a dish appetizing enough to attempt another fruit and cream salad. Here’s what all those other gelatinous fruit salads were missing—cheesecake! It’s simple and easy, and trust me this is no fruit salad from the 1980s, and if you’ve got a jello-o mold hanging around you can use it for chips and dip!
Red, White & Blue Cheesecake Salad
Ingredients
- 1 – 8-ounce package cream cheese
- 1 – 3.4-ounce package instant cheesecake pudding unprepared
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
- 1 pound strawberries cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 containers blueberries
- 4 large bananas sliced
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese until it becomes smooth. It may bind up in the beaters, but continue as is and it will loosen up. Add the dry pudding mix. Beat until well combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract to the cream cheese mix. Add it gradually and then mix until it becomes a smooth mixture. Refrigerate while you prepare the fruit.
- In a large bowl, combine lemon juice and bananas. Stir to coat bananas completely and pour off any excess lemon juice. Add strawberries and blueberries. Gently stir to combine.
- Fold the cheesecake mixture into the fruit. Chill until ready to serve.
Recipe and photo from TheSlowRoastedItalian.com
