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Lemon Oreo Cheesecake (no-bake) thumbnail image - slice cut from cheesecake in foreground, yellow lemon cheesecake decorated with lemon spirals, lemon Oreos, and whipped cream in the background

Looking for a simple but elegant summer dessert?

I've got you covered with this No-bake Lemon Oreo Cheesecake!

It's made with just a handful of simple ingredients - and it's no-bake, ridiculously easy, and it screams 'summer!'

Backstory: Not long ago, I posted an Oreo Confetti cheesecake recipe. Along with the recipe, I posted a YouTube short. One of my YouTube comment-ers suggested another version - with Lemon Oreos! I thought that idea was genius, and started work on this no-bake Lemon Oreo cheesecake. (Because summer's in full swing as I write this, and I'm not turning on my oven unless I have NO other choice.)

Quick story as an aside - I am a little bit new to grocery pick-up orders, and I'm still learning to read the product descriptions. It sounds obvious, but... man. Suffice to say I've had issues with it. Cause sometimes I'm just an idiot.
Anyway, this particular pick-up order was when I realized that Oreos come in *many* sized packages. I was familiar with the regular and family size packs… And in my clicking away in the Kroger app I missed that ‘party size’ was one of the options. Lol… Yikes. Literally had DOUBLE the number of Oreos I needed!)

That aside – I *really* loved what the lemon Oreos added to this cheesecake crust! Nilla wafers are my usual go-to for lighter cheesecakes, but the lemon cookie and filling really adds another dimension to this crust.

(And don’t worry – you crush or blend the whole cookie; none of that fiddley separating-cookies-and-scraping-out-the-filling. Because who the heck has time for that?)

The filling is pretty simple – cream cheese, lemon, pudding, mix, lemon extract, and the juice and zest of two lemons. Round one was done with the juice and zest of just one lemon…which is an option, but for my taste-testers was not enough lemon.

Quick note on the lemon zest!

Round one when I tested this recipe, I used a zester and channel tool. (Because that was what I had on hand.) After a round of taste testing, the consensus was that the flavor was good, but the texture of the zest was weird. Almost like coconut. So then I got a microplaner - this produces much smaller pieces of lemon zest - providing plenty of flavor from the zest without leaving long zest ‘strings’ in the cheesecake.

Other recipe options:

I opted to not include crushed Oreos in the cheesecake layer in the photos – just for a smoother texture and ease of cutting. That said – I’ve included crushed Oreo pieces in other cheesecakes, and it’s definitely an awesome option! Honestly it's up to your tastes and preferences.

Less Oreos = less jagged-ey edges when cutting the cheesecake.
Equally, if you ask most people - more Oreos = more better . 😉

"How much time do I need to chill the cheesecake?"

As far as timeline -I like to make cheesecakes the day before, so that they have plenty of time to set in the fridge. More chill time makes for a more well-set, easier-to-cut cheesecake - with more well-infused flavors. That said - a couple hours will do if you're short on time. 🙂

I like to decorate day-of-serving though. Mostly because I like decorating with whipped cream, and it tends not to hold it shape very well for more than about 4-6 hours, even whipped stiff and in the fridge.

That said - you have some options. If you'd rather get the whole thing done at once, you could use whipped topping like Cool Whip, or add a bit of dissolved gelatin to your whipped cream to stabilize it. But the easiest option is probably just to decorate close to serving time. 😉

I think that’s everything! On to the recipe!

(Disclosure: As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases, and my posts often contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you!)

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