Fresh Raspberry Cream Dessert

Independance Day is upon us again and it’s a great time to make this fresh raspberry cream dessert.  It’s a little decadent but I’m ready to splurge some, how about you? 

I don’t know about you, but I love a graham cracker crust. As soon as I mentioned I was making a dessert with a graham cracker crust, my daughter-in-law Karen said, “Make Martha Stewart’s crust…it’s the best.”  So I altered her recipe a little, not adding as much sugar as she uses and I’m not sure the crust really needs any added sugar.  You make the call on the sugar.

Raspberries are plentiful right now and you can sometimes find them BOGO free.  I found these at $5.00 for two 6 ounce packages.

I actually tried this two different ways.  The first time was adapted from Taste of Home and it had a weird gelatin mixed with a lot of cornstarch.  It tasted good but looked kind of cloudy and sick.  Nothing like real Jello.

Mascarpone cheese was used the first time also and it has a really nice flavor and could be substituted for the cream cheese. The calorie count for each is pretty similar.

I did take one of their ideas and made a sweet, thickened raspberry sauce that really brings out the raspberry flavor in the raspberry cream dessert.

Overall the dessert is a winner and although it takes time to put together, it’s easy to go through a few steps and then go do something else for a half hour then come back to it. The effort is certainly worth it.  Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Fresh Raspberry Cream Dessert

Perfect dessert for a summertime picnic.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 9

Calories: 338kcal

Author: Joe

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups Graham cracker crumbs 12 whole crackers
• 5 tbsp melted butter
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

Cheese filling

• 8 oz. cream cheese room temperature
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Raspberries

• 12 oz. fresh raspberries about 3 cups
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 oz. raspberry Jello package
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Crust

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Mix crust ingredients well in a medium sized bowl.  Pour into an 8X8 inch pyrex baking dish and press to level. I used the bottom of a 1/4 cup metal measure to even the crust.
• Place the baking dish into the oven for 12 minutes until the crust just starts to brown. Remove and place on a rack to cool.

Cheese filling

• Wash and dry the bowl you previously used and add cheese, sugar and vanilla. Use a spatula to fully combine. 
• Place cheese on top of the cooled crust and use a small offset spreader or small spatula to spread evenly.

Raspberries

• Place half the raspberries in a small sauce pan with 1/2 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to break down the raspberries, 5 minutes.
• Use a fine strainer to strain the liquid from the seeds and pulp. Use a spatula to press most of the raspberry liquid into a bowl.
• Discard the seeds and pulp, clean the sauce pan and add the raspberry liquid back. Add 2 tbsp sugar and bring to a boil.
• Dissolve 1 tbsp cornstarch in 2 or 3 tbsp. cold water, then add to the pan with the raspberry liquid. Boil stirring until thickened and reduced some. 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.
• In a small sauce pan, boil 1 cup of water, take off the heat and add the 3 oz. of jello powder. Stir to fully dissolve then add 1/2 cup cold water and set aside to cool.
• Pour the cooled raspberry sauce onto the cheese filling and tilt around to fully coat.
• Arrange the remaining raspberries on the raspberry sauce then carefully add the cooled jello so as not to disrupt the raspberry sauce layer.
• Place into the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours until the jello is set.

Notes

The entire recipe from start until the dish is put into the refrigerator takes about 2 1/2 hours, allowing for 1 1/2 hours of cooling.  

Nutrition

Calories: 338kcal