No-Bake Coconut Cheesecake Cups
Graham crust, powdered milk filling, freeze-dried strawberries. Sets in a mug while you eat dinner.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 149
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Graham cracker crumbs | 3/4 cup | crush at home, saves a bag of dust |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered butter or coconut oil | 2 tbsp | coconut oil solid at camp temps works better |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Cream cheese powder | 1/2 cup | sold for popcorn seasoning and in freeze-dried aisles |
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | |
| Powdered sugar | 1/4 cup | stands in for sweetened condensed milk |
| Vanilla powder | 1/4 tsp | extract leaks, powder does not |
| Shredded unsweetened coconut | 1/2 cup | toast half of it at home |
| Freeze-dried strawberries | 1/2 cup | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Dump the crumb bag into a mug or wide bowl. Add the fat and sugar and mash with a spoon until the crumbs clump. If the oil is solid, warm the bag in a pocket first.
- Press the crumbs flat against the bottom. Set it aside.
- In a freezer bag, combine the cream cheese powder, milk powder, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and half the coconut.
- Add 60 ml of cold water to the bag a splash at a time, working the lumps out through the plastic. Stop when it holds a peak. Too much water and it never firms up.
- Snip a corner off the bag and squeeze the filling onto the crust.
- Scatter the toasted coconut and crumbled freeze-dried strawberries over the top. Let it sit 20 minutes in cool air, or eat it soft.
The original is a fridge dessert: real cream cheese, a can of condensed milk, eight hours to set. None of that travels. This version rebuilds the same flavor from powders, which rehydrate into a thick paste instead of a pourable batter, so it holds its shape without chilling.
Water is the whole game. Cream cheese powder wants far less than it looks like it does, and once it goes soupy there is no way back on the trail. Add it in splashes and stop early. The freeze-dried strawberries stay crisp on top until the moment they hit the filling, which is the closest you get to fresh fruit out here.
Packing
Three bags: crumbs, filling powders, toppings. Keep the fat separate from the crumbs in hot weather or it seeps.
Variations
- Freeze-dried blueberries or raspberries swap in without changing the water.
- Cocoa powder in the filling turns it into something closer to a chocolate mousse.
- Skip the crust entirely and eat the filling out of the bag with the fruit stirred in.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/strawberry-coconut-no-bake-cheesecakes