No-Bake Cheesecake

I had pinned this article from Epicurious from back in forever, and had honestly forgotten about it altogether. It wasn't until I offered to make a cake for my mother for the holiday potluck and trawled through my Pinterest board (and quietly panicking when I realized I almost never pay any attention to cakes) when I stumbled across this recipe again.

Since it was for the holidays, I added some green to help complement the red, and had a grand old time carving and essentially playing with the fruit. With a ready-made crust and store-bought whipped topping, this is a quick and easy recipe, though I usually opt to make my own graham cracker crust and whipped cream.

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream (or 1 1/3 cup for a more NY-style sour cheesecake)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 lemon zested
• 8 ounces prepared whipped topping, thawed
• 1 prepared graham cracker crust
• 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise

1. Beat the cream cheese until smooth with an electric mixer. Gradually beat in the sugar. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest until just combined.
2. Fold in the whipped topping. Scrape mixture into the piecrust. (There may be some filling left over. If so, reserve it to be decoratively piped onto the top of the pie.) Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Notes: Half of those who tried this mentioned that they preferred a thicker graham cracker crust than I usually make for other tarts to go with this cheesecake.

If you're going to use kiwis, find some that are firmer/not-quite-ripe. They will be easier to slice using a mandolin, and they'll be so thin that their not-so-perfect state of ripeness won't be as much of an issue. Also, turn the fruit 180 degrees after each slice; otherwise, the trailing end will start to get ragged after a while depending on the sharpness of your mandolin, particularly if the fruit is already softer than ideal.