Creamy, no-bake cheesecake is layered with fresh berries and a graham cracker crumble to create a delicious and colorful treat, perfect for the 4th of July!
Combine fruit in a bowl with 1 tbsp. of honey or sugar, then stir well and set in the fridge until ready to use.
Make the crumble
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Add crackers to a plastic zipper type bag and crush (with a rolling pin).
In a medium sized bowl, melt butter, and then add crushed graham crackers and sugar. Stir well, then spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes.
Allow to cool while preparing the cheesecake filling.
Cheesecake
In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend cream cheese until smooth.
Add powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon zest and blend well.
While slowly mixing, add (cold) heavy cream slowly, then whip until smooth and increased in volume by almost double.
Assembly
Begin assembly by adding 1-2 tbsp. (cooled) crumble to the bottom of 4 (1/2 pint sized) jars.
Add a layer of cheesecake, then a layer of fruit.
Repeat layers, as desired, depending on the jars or dishes you’re using.
If desired, add watermelon star garnish by using a star shaped cookie cutter to cut starts out of a large slice of watermelon. Add watermelon stars to paper straws and garnish your trifles.
Refrigerate trifles for 15 minutes before serving, or up to 6 hours.
Notes
To make one large trifle - Double the crumble portion, and triple the fruit and cheesecake portions.If you need to make this a truly no-bake dessert, feel free to omit the step of baking the crumble. The crumble will still be perfectly delicious, just not quite as crispy.