There are some occasions when I really take my time making a dessert and put in copious amounts of energy and work to make sure it turns out just right.
I take out my mixer, turn on the oven, dirty every dish in the kitchen, and really make a federal case out of dessert-making.
This dessert is not that occasion.
These little no-bake parfaits can be made quickly, which is the name of the tune come summer.
I’d rather be outside enjoying the weather, playing with my Skylar at the park, wasting time on Pinterest, catching up on the mountain of laundry I need to tackle, or doing just about anything other than preparing something labor-intensive and standing in a hot kitchen when it’s sunny and warm.
The cheesecake layer in these is of the no-bake, no-egg, no-fuss variety.
Just the way I like it.
It’s made with COOL WHIP Whipped Topping and softened cream cheese and you don’t even have to turn on a mixer.
Just whip it by hand in about 4.67 seconds.
But before you do that, there’s an easy graham cracker crumb and melted butter crust, which is packed into the bottom of the parfait glasses.
I found them at the thrift store for 50 cents each. Even if I never use them again, they made cheesecake parfait eating more fun. Skylar’s eyes lit up when she saw these on the table. Use whatever little mugs or bowls you have laying around or use the recipe as an excuse to go dishes shopping, which sounds great to me.
The crust is topped with a flood of caramel sauce and Rolo candies, two favorites of mine.
If you don’t like Rolo candies or caramel sauce, what’s wrong with you you can use another candy or another sauce such as butterscotch or chocolate sauce.
The crust mixture does double duty as a topping.
It adds a nice texture to the top of the parfaits and is heavenly when stirred up with the COOL WHIP and cream cheese mixture.
I purposely kept this recipe smaller scale. If you need more than four parfaits at once, go ahead and double it. And invite some friends over because these babies are rich.
If you don’t need all four at once, cover with plastic wrap, hide them deep in the refrigerator so your spouse can’t find them or so you don’t wander down to the refrigerator at 12:19 a.m. for a sip of water and reach for one of these rather than that water.
It happened. And I loved it.
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No-Bake Rolo and Caramel Cheesecake Parfaits
Makes 4 single-serving cheesecakes
Crust
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3/4 to 1 cup caramel sauce or caramel ice cream topping, divided
20 mini Rolo candies, divided
Filling
4 ounces whipped cream cheese, softened
2 cups COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1/2 cup Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
2 tablespoons reserved graham cracker crumb mixture, divided
2 to 4 tablespoons Rolo candies, diced and divided
caramel sauce, for drizzling
Crust: In a small mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, and stir to combine. Divide mixture into four small bowls, mugs, parfait glasses, wine glasses, or similar. Reserve about 2 tablespoons mixture to use for the final topping. Press mixture firmly into the base of each bowl with the back of a spoon or fingertips. Pour caramel sauce over the crust in each of the bowls (2 to 4 tablespoons per bowl). Top with 4 to 5 Rolo candies per bowl (if you can’t find mini Rolo, use full size. The minis come unwrapped to save time. Or use another candy such as Butterfinger, Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, etc.).
Filling: In a medium mixing bowl, combine all filling ingredients and whisk until smooth and well combined. Pour mixture over the top of the candy layer, distributed equally among the bowl (about 1/2 cup per bowl). Place bowls in refrigerator until well-chilled, or flash-chill in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Topping: Before serving, top each of the chilled bowls with a sprinkling of reserved graham cracker crumbs (about half of one tablespoon per bowl) and a sprinkling of diced candies. Optionally, drizzle with caramel sauce and/or additional COOL WHIP over the top of each. Serve immediately. If you do not need all four cheesecakes at once, the extras can be covered with plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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Related Recipes:
Pink Lemonade Freezer Bars – also no-bake and made with COOL WHIP
Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups with Ice Cream – summertime means lots of cold desserts
Raw Vegan Cheesecake – (No-bake, vegan, gluten-free, soy-free) Excuse the vintage photography (the recipe still works though). Easy, fast, and very authentic-tasting.
Coconut Spice Cheesecake Bars – Cheesecake fans or carrot cake fans, here you go
White and Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake Bars – I made these for the bake sale and every time I make them and share them, people go nuts for these
Caramel and Chocolate Gooey Bars (GF with Vegan adaptation) – If you are a fan of caramel, this one is for you. Worth turning on the oven for.
What is one of your favorite easy and fast desserts to make during the summer? Do you have a favorite dessert you bring to summertime get-togethers and parties?
Links welcome
COOL WHIP is offering a Fan Dessert of the Month Contest on Facebook. The winner each month will win $500! All you have to do is make a COOL WHIP dessert, take a photo, and upload it on Facebook.
Such a great idea! I love the presentation too, I made a no-bake oreo cheesecake recently and I think this would be a great way to serve it for an after dinner treat. Lovely!
presentation definitely matters…makes something easy to make look a bit more luxurious I think :)
absolutely look amzing! Love anything no bake and this is awesome
The ultimate sweet treat! Love it girl :)
Omg! These look and sound amazing! And so easy to do! Pinning this- thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the pin!
When I see No bake, Caramel and Cheesecake abd all this followed by such great photos I just regret that I didn’t take the day off today, just to stay home, make these beauties and enjoy them all by myself!
Rolos take me back in time. Love this!
Oh my gracious those look good! Rolo’s are one of my favorite candy. I’m sold.
These look amazing Averie! We dont have COOL WHIP here in Ireland,could you recommend a subsitute? My dads a rolo nut so I’d love to do these for him!
Shirley x
You could use real whipped cream, whipped very stiffly, that’s been sweetened with extra confectioner’s or granulated sugar. If you have any whipped topping products that are sold in the grocery stores, use those. Usually they are sold in the frozen cases or in the refrigerated case for something like Reddi-Whip in a can.
Great,Thanks averie. I wasnt sure if I would get the same sweetness with sweetened whipped cream. Im goin to try it with the Reddi-Whip. Thanks so much :)
Shirley x
Yes Reddi-Whip is a fairly international product, I would use that and sweeten to taste after you mix in the cream cheese. LMK how it goes!
Oh lord, lady. If you made these in bar form, this would have midwest potluck written all over it! Love the classing up of it! I wish I could eat this stuff all day long!
this is SO MIDWEST, I know. It’s what my mom would make for a church potluck in the summer or a backyard bbq. Something or anything with COOL WHIP that was no-bake. Your relatives I think would like this :)
Very creative dessert, it looks awesome! And great recipe inspiration, so many tempting treats here! Banana soft serve in the Vitamix or frozen grapes are probably my favorite fast and simple desserts for summer.
Funny you should mention B.S.S. and frozen grapes…I had both in the past few days!
Averie, those parfaits are insane! So unhealthy, lol, but look sooo good! Im sure there’s a way to healthify them. I’m tempted! Of course all the other stuff looks delish too… my mouth is watering!
Well not everything needs to be broccoli or health food around here. Sometimes a little caramel sauce and COOL WHIP are just what the mental health doctor ordered :) You “could” healthify them with coconut milk, whipped cashew cream, raw caramel sauce made from dates and agave; it wouldn’t actually be too hard b/c cashews and/or coconut butter could be lovely in them but ya know…that wasn’t this recipe :)
I can see that this might also work with peanut butter cups? You have no idea how many times you have saved my butt when I needed a fast dessert. It’s like **PANIC**, then ‘ok, I know Averie will have something for me, reeeelax, Sara, it’s ok..). Taking time over something complicated is good, but who has the time for that more than once every two months or so? Life is busy.
Life is busy, you got that right! And yes it most definitely works with PB Cups :) I have tried that!
Oh man, my mom used to make this no-bake dessert that she called “The Streetwalker.” It was basically sweetened condensed milk, dark chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips all stuffed into an oreo pie crust. At least I think that’s it… but they were totally TOTALLY delectable – and RICH! I’d forgotten all about those – gonna have to dig up the recipe and make that one extra soon!
Love the name! I wonder how she came up with that??
Ok you have to get this recipe for me b/c I am a huge fan of sweetened cond milk and everything else you mentioned and it’s no bake! What else does she put with the sweet cond milk to “absorb” some of it so it’s not just floating in the pie crust?
Cheesecake and Rolo’s? Yes please!
These look delicious!
Another dangerous recipe, I love it!! haven’t had rolo’s in years!!
Better go pick some up :)