I’m pretty sure this Easy Huckleberry Cheesecake is what heaven tastes like. The crust alone is sensational – rich, buttery, chunks of toasted crumbs and nuts. Then you fill it up with this amazing fluffy cheesecake filling that takes just minutes to make! Top the entire creation off with a good layer of sweet, fresh huckleberry topping and you have something amazing!
Multiple readers tested the recipe and told me that their family members don’t even like cheesecake but they LOVED this Easy Huckleberry Cheesecake.
This recipe centers on a fresh, creamy filling you don’t have to bake. This makes for a fast and easy dessert prep! It also gives the entire dessert a wonderfully fresh flavor. In my family we think of this kind of no bake cheesecake as a creamy fresh fruit tart. I often make something similar to this with extra lemon juice and smothered in fresh raspberries. It was one of my Dad’s favorite desserts. By any name (fruit tart, easy cheesecake or no-bake cheesecake) it is decadent and wonderful!
Heads up that the crumb crust does get baked. In this case “no-bake” refers to the filling. If you really wanted to avoid baking at all you could grab a pre-made crumb crust at the store but it would be sad to miss the nutty, buttery goodness of this homemade crust and it is fast and easy to put together!
It’s Huckleberry Season in Idaho!
Here in Idaho everybody gets excited when Huckleberry season hits! People graze the berries on hikes or pick them in favorite spots.
What is a Huckleberry?
Have you tried this lovely berry? Huckleberries only grow in a few regions of the US so it is a bit of a delicacy. The fruit is usually similar to a blueberry but smaller, more delicate and a bit less sweet. Huckleberries come in several varieties. I grew up with tiny red berries that grow wild in Oregon near the coast. Closer to Mt. Hood a blue variety is common. Here in Idaho and in Montana most huckleberries are black or dark blue.
When a recipe calls for huckleberries you can generally substitute blueberries. The flavor will be a bit sweeter but quite similar. Wild blueberries are usually smaller and thus make a better substitution option for huckleberries.
Is Cheesecake a Pie or a Cake?
The internet wants to know! We call it cheesecake but is it a cake? In reality it is not. The filling is made of a custard and the dessert is a filling that goes in a crust. Technically cheesecake is in fact a pie! But if you call it cheesepie I’m pretty sure nobody will have a clue what you are talking about!
Other Recipes with Berries
These wonderful Blueberry Pancakes would be perfect made with huckleberries.
Decorating With Whipped Cream
This Easy Huckleberry Cheesecake is already a really beautiful dessert but if you want to make it fancy you could absolutely grab these instructions and swirl on some whipped cream. You can’t go wrong with whipped cream and it is an easy and elegant way to jazz up your dessert plate!
No Bake Huckleberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
Huckleberry Topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 cups huckleberries fresh or frozen (can substitute blueberries)
- 1 Tbsp. salted butter
Butter Crunch Crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans finely chopped (can sub cashews or almonds)
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1-2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice depends on personal taste
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
To prepare the topping:
- Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in cold water until smooth; add berries and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn the berries down to a simmer and cook, stirring for 2 minutes while the mixture thickens slightly. (It will thicken more after it has cooled.) Put the mixture in the refrigerator to cool fully before topping the pie.
To prepare the crust:
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and nuts. Use a fork or your fingers to mash in very soft butter until the mixture is combined.
- Spread the crumb mixture out about ½” thick on the middle of a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stir with a spatula, and bake an additional 5 minutes. Crumbs will be soft and becoming toasted a golden brown.
- Remove from oven. While mixture is still hot, use a fork to press into a 9-in. pie plate forming a pie shell. Start by pressing the crumb mixture to the sides. When the sides are done press the remaining mixture to the bottom of the pie plate. Cool in the refrigerator.
To prepare the cheesecake filling:
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat very soft cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and 1 tsp. of lemon juice until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the heavy cream. Once the cream is incorporated beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is somewhat fluffy. Taste and add the additional tsp. of lemon juice if desired.
- Spoon the filling into the cooled crust and refrigerate until the topping is cool enough to use. Spoon the topping over the pie.
- Garnish with whipped cream and sprigs of mint if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
MirlandrasKitchen.com is written to share great recipes. While we do our best to provide nutritional information as a general guideline, we are not registered dietitians and the values provided here should be considered estimates – not exact scientific data.
Danielle says
I made this today with some huckleberries I had in the freezer, and it is amazing!! I used a graham cracker crust instead of the butter crunch, and it worked out well. It is sweet but not too sweet, which is a difficult balance with huckleberries. I’m always looking for good huckleberry dessert recipes. They’re hard to find. This is perfect!
Mirlandra says
Thanks, Danielle! You are very lucky to have huckleberries in your freezer! I’m fresh out and relying on blueberries until next season 🙁 A graham cracker crust is great here too! Thanks so much for sharing and letting me know you loved this!
JESSICA Frye says
Found this recipe just in time for our youngest brothers graduation. He requested a cheesecake so I’m surprising him with this since we are blessed to still have a small stash of Hucklebrries left from 2019 season. Thank you! We look forward to pairing this with Lilac Mint Lemonade. Definitely making this a memorable day in so many ways.
Mirlandra says
Oh Jessica! This makes my heart so happy. What a special way to celebrate! (And lucky you to still have a stash!!! I’m looking forward to huckleberry season this year to try to build up a stash in my freezer!) And Lilac Mint Lemonade sounds quite the treat! Your brother is very lucky – I wish him well as he begins the next leg in his journey!
Jess L. says
This recipe is a new family favorite here! Ever since I first made it my husband always requests I make it again! lol. I’m not a huge sweets fan but we love cheesecake and huckleberries are the best! Not to mention how easy this is to make, it’s a win win. I like to add a dash of gelatin to the mix just to make sure it stays extra firm in case it gets devoured before it can fully cool in the fridge 😉
Mirlandra says
I’m so happy to hear that! And great trick with the gelatin – sounds amazing!
Linda Miller says
I made this easy huckleberry pie last year when our son came for visit as he was wanting a huckleberry pie we absolutely loved this pie I love the crust version with the pecans can’t wait to make it again for memorial weekend with family again . Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
Mirlandra says
Linda, this makes me SO happy! I’m so glad you were able to make something so lovely to share with your family!!!
Paula says
What size of pie dish?
Mirlandra says
Please see step #4. 9″ pie dish is perfect.
Alayna says
This was so so good. I savored every single bite. I’m so glad I did this one instead of the recipe calling for 4 blocks of cream cheese 😂.
Mirlandra says
A good homemade cheesecake with four blocks of cream cheese is fun but a lot more work and a TON of food! I’m so glad you enjoyed this version. My mother in law is in town for the summer and she has been busy picking huckleberries already! We made pancakes with them this weekend and I wondered if I might have just enough left in the freezer for this cheesecake recipe.
Alli says
I love this recipe. However I’m having trouble with the huckleberries being runny and now setting up. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Also sometimes the cream cheese is lumpy and sometimes not. Have any tricks to fix this? I’m not a great baker.
Mirlandra says
Hi Alli – These are great questions! In my experience cooking and baking are very different skill sets. My husband is an amazing cook – the best smoked meats and Asian stir fries and decadent steak and delicious sea food. However, hand the man even a cake mix and you are asking for trouble!
In my experience talking to people about their cooking lives most people that say they are not good bakers are people who don’t like to follow directions precisely. Baking is sometimes unforgiving.
Here is my checklist of suggestions for cream cheese lumps:
1. Make sure you follow the measurements exactly. Use a glass measuring cup intended for liquid measurements to measure liquids. Use metal measuring cups intended for solids for dry ingredients like flour and sugar.
2. Make sure your cream cheese is very much room temperature! If my cream cheese is fresh out of the fridge I microwave it for 20-30 seconds and then make sure my finger pressure can easily go through that block of cream cheese. If not I nuke it again! I just go 20 seconds at a time until it is nice and soft.
3. Lumpy cream cheese is probably caused by the cream cheese not being soft enough before you go to whip it. Once you believe it is very soft try whipping just the cream cheese until it is fluffy and lump free – then add your other ingredients as directed. This should give you a good chance to soften a little more if you need too!
In terms of the topping make sure you are checking those measurements and following directions. But this topping is intended to be lightly set. Look at the picture and see how one berry has dripped off in front? If the topping is so thick it is a gel / paste it isn’t yummy. This is intended to be JUST set enough to stay on the pie for serving.
I hope these ideas help you. And I want to really encourage you that just because you haven’t always been a great baker doesn’t mean you can’t become one! I taught myself to cook with very little help as a teenager! I had my share of cooking and baking disasters but with practice and good recipes I became really good! You seem to appreciate and enjoy good food and I suspect you can become as good of a baker as you would like to be!!!