Spike Your Sweets: Strawberry Cheesecake Jello Shots
As backyard BBQ season shifts into full swing, it's time to start planning the perfect menu for your Memorial Day parties. Burgers and hot dogs are a staple (see: A Dozen Innovative Grills & 13 Must-Have Grilling Gadgets), but so are sweet treats and boozy bites. So how about combining both into a creative party treat? We enlisted our jello shot expert, Jaymee Sire, to transform your favorite sweet summer fruit into our newest spiked sweet: Strawberry Cheesecake Jello Shots. That's right. Strawberry. Cheesecake. Jello. Shots.
Ingredients
– 2 large containers strawberries
– 1 small package of strawberry jello
– 1 cup water
– 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
– 1 cup vanilla or whipped cream vodka, chilled (or regular vodka plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
– crushed graham crackers
Carefully hull each strawberry using a strawberry huller, paring knife or grapefruit spoon.
Shave off the bottom of each strawberry with a knife so that they will stand upright. (Be careful not to cut off too much or your strawberries will leak!) Place strawberries upright in a small pan.
In a small saucepan, heat water and add jello. Stir until completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add cream cheese and whisk until well combined. (To make it even smoother, you could use an electric hand mixer). Add chilled vodka and stir.
Pour or spoon a little of the jello mixture into hollowed-out strawberries. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.
If you have extra jello leftover (which you likely will unless you hull 50 strawberries), you can mix some graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and press it into small cups. Top with remaining jello mixture and allow to set. Top with chopped strawberries and serve with demitasse spoons. Two desserts in one, and both are outrageously delicious.
When ready to serve, dip each strawberry in crushed graham crackers and place on a platter. (And get ready to watch them disappear!)
How do you sweeten things up for summer picnics and BBQs? Send recipe ideas our way in the comments below or on Twitter. And keep on spiking those sweets! ;)
