Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake

If you’ve come looking for either a Reese’s or peanut butter cheesecake which is no bake, then you’ve come to the right place. The recipe I’m about to share with you is super simple and takes no time at all and best of all, it requires no oven!

As mentioned above, if you’ve been looking for the perfect peanut butter no bake cheesecake then this recipe may be for you. This cheesecake is compromised of a classic buttery biscuit, topped with the creamy and rich cheesecake, which is perfectly flavoured. The peanut butter flavour is there just right for me, it’s not overwhelming or underwhelming but feel free to adjust the amount of peanut butter to suit you and whoever you intend sharing this cheesecake with. My guess is if you’re looking at this cheesecake, then you quite like peanut butter and the amount I use will suit you well. Anyway, I then finish my cheesecake with a good amount of Reese’s chocolate peanut butter spread (if you like normal peanut butter, then this is a whole other spread, you must try asap!!), then I pipe sweetened whipped cream around the edge of the cheesecake and finish with a generous amount of quartered peanut butter cups.

There’s quite a bit of peanut butter involved, isn’t there… Oh well, just have a smaller slice. May as well enjoy it in the moment.

When I was making this cheesecake, the United Kingdom was experiencing some sort of heatwave (it could well have been summer weather but we don’t have weather like that too often, so meh. I don’t know still.) and even here in Birmingham, it was reaching highs of 31˚c/88˚f which was a little too warm for me, so a majority of baking (and no bake desserts) were being made when it was slightly cooler in the evening, it was still too much with the oven at 180˚/350˚f… Anyway, this isn’t a weather report.

If you haven’t guessed already, trying to keep a no bake cheesecake cool in the warmer weather isn’t that easy. Although the cheesecake didn’t melt completely there was a couple of close calls when I almost dropped it when transferring it back to the fridge one I had removed it from the tin or when it came to slicing it up, it kinda looked like it had been in the sun… Oops, it still tasted pretty good though, I’m not going to lie.

The process behind making this cheesecake isn’t so hard, the most difficult thing about this cheesecake is waiting for it to firm up in the fridge or deciding how to decorate it.

To make the biscuit base, you only need 2 ingredients and if you don’t have fancy equipment, don’t worry. All you need to do is crush the biscuits until they are a breadcrumb consistency or sand consistency and you can choose between the two methods on how to do it. Method 2 would be to place your biscuits into a food processor and blitz them together until they have broken down enough and look like breadcrumbs or sand and method 2 would be to place your biscuits into a food safe bag and securing the end. Then bashing the crumbs with a rolling pin until the biscuits have been bashed enough and they resemble either breadcrumbs or sand. Add in the melted butter (feel free to melt it in the microwave or in a saucepan over a medium heat until just melted) and mix the 2 together until it starts to look like wet sand (thats the best way I can describe it really. Transfer the buttery biscuit mixture from your food processor or food safe bag and place in the bottom of your 8 inch round baking tin and press it down using a cup measurement or whatever you have (a spoon works really well too!). Once the base is level, place the tin in the fridge and allow to chill and firm up while you make the cheesecake filling.

To start the cheesecake filling, get yourself a large mixing bowl (or use a stand mixer bowl, whichever you have or prefer) and place the soft cheese, peanut butter and icing sugar and using a whisk, whisk it together until its all come together and is well combined. This will only take a few minutes, depending on how quickly you’re mixing it together to be honest with you. Once you’ve achieved this, you can then add in your double cream and again whisk the mixture until the double cream has been completely worked in. This again varies on how quickly you’re whisking the mixture together. You will be able to both see and feel the cheesecake filling thicken as the double cream is worked in, it will hold its shape pretty well once whisked enough. Just be careful not to over-mix at this stage, otherwise your cheesecake will be too stiff.

Once the cheesecake filling is done, you will then want to place the cheesecake filling on top of your buttery biscuit base, getting as much as that rich and creamy filling into the tin as possible. Level it off as best you can using either a silicon spatula or a small offset/cranked palette knife (I recommend one of these, they are a life saver when it comes to baking!), I like to level the top off so its as smooth/level as possible, it makes it look better and helps when it comes to decorating. You can then transfer the cheesecake to the fridge and allow to chill for 8 hours or overnight until set (I left mine overnight, so I recommend doing this to you also).

So, the following morning I removed the cheesecake from the fridge and removed it from the tin, transferred it to a cake stand and placed it back in the fridge while I prepare my final decoration bits and pieces. I required some cream for the edge of my cheesecake, so I placed my double cream, icing sugar and vanilla into a bowl and whisked that until it was thicker and placed into a piping bag with a closed star piping nozzle. I placed a couple of tablespoons of the chocolate peanut butter into a separate piping bag, fitted with no nozzle and chopped my peanut butter cups into quarters and placed them into a bowl. Now I have all the final bits and pieces I need for my cheesecake, I can finally get on to finishing it.
To finish the cheesecake, you can do it however you like. It’s really easy to customise and make it suit your occasion. My cheesecake wasn’t for any special occasion, so I didn’t have a theme. I piped over a ‘drizzle’ effect with the chocolate peanut butter, then all around the edge of the cake I pipe small amounts of whipped cream. To finish I place a few of my quartered peanut butter cups in the centre, then place the odd quarter onto the whipped cream around the edge.

This cheesecake is really easy to make and doesn’t require a lot and best of all its no bake and can be made ahead, so why not whip one of these up soon?

 

Ingredients:

Base:

250g Digestive biscuits.

100g Butter, melted.

Cheesecake:

600g Plain soft cheese.

200g Peanut butter.

100g Icing sugar.

Toppings:

250ml Double cream.

100g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla bean paste.

2-3 tbsp Chocolate peanut butter.

A few peanut butter cups, quartered.

Method:

Base:

1. Place your biscuits into a food processor or food safe bag and blitz/beat until the biscuits become a sandy consistency.
2. Melt you butter either in the microwave or in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add into the biscuit crumbs and mix until the crumbs are all coated and look like wet sand once well combined.
3. Transfer the biscuit mixture to your 8 inch round cake tin and press it down using either a cup measurement or the back of a spoon until the base is level and smooth looking.
4. Place in the fridge, so the base can firm up and you can get on with making your cheesecake filling.

Cheesecake:

1. To start, get yourself a large bowl and place your soft cheese, peanut butter and icing sugar.
2. Whisk the 3 together until the mixture comes together, this may take a couple of minutes (it all depends on how quickly you’re mixing them together). You will know once its come together, it will be one solid colour and not a trace of a single ingredient.
3. Add in your double cream and again whisk the mixture together until it becomes thicker in consistency and it holds its shape well (you will be able to see and feel the difference once its combined. Try not to over-mix at this stage).
4. Transfer the cheesecake filling and place it on top of the buttery biscuit base you made earlier on, getting as much of the cheesecake filling into the tin as possible. Level it off as best you can using either a silicon spatula or my favourite, a small cranked palette knife.
5. Once you’ve levelled the top off as best you can, place the tin into the fridge and allow to chill and firm up for around 8 hours or overnight for the best results.

Toppings:

1. To start on the toppings, place the whipped cream, icing sugar and vanilla into a bowl and whisk together until its well combined and holds its shape well.
2. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a closed star piping nozzle.
3. Place a few tablespoons of chocolate peanut butter into a piping bag, with no tip.
4. Cut a few peanut butter cups into 4’s and place into a bowl.

Assembly:

1. Remove the cheesecake from the fridge after 8 hours and place onto your cake stand or plate of choice and place back into the fridge to chill while your prepare your toppings.
2. Decorate your cheesecake however you like, it’s easy to customise it at this stage and feel free to use more or less of something. Make it suit your occasion best.

Many thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Don’t forget to check out my other recipes, if you’d like.