Raspberry Cheesecake Dip

When it comes to no bake dessert options, I’m a fan of serving an easy cheesecake dip with fruit. I’m a cheesecake lover, adore fruit, and hey - it’s a relatively healthy snack,

When that fruit is on skewers and done up with a bit of a rainbow theme? Now it’s a beautiful way to a healthy treat!

These heart shaped fruit skewers are a fun twist on the idea - various melons and pineapples are cut into cute little hearts before being skewered.

They don’t cover ALL the colors of the rainbow, mind you, but they - along with the sweet dip are a fun way to serve up a great snack.
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It’s an incredibly versatile snack, too - serve it up as an after school snack, as part of movie night, or as a healthy dessert on Valentine’s Day. (I used it as a centerpiece dip on my Valentine's Day Charcuterie Board!)

It’s a great addition to the menu for many social events, and is sure to be a huge hit at bridal showers - or baby showers - birthday parties, holiday gatherings, and even St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

They can be casual easy snacks for a summer party - pool party, anyone? - or a stunning part of a dessert buffet for a wedding reception.

Whether as a party snack or an everyday thing, these rainbow fruit kebabs with creamy dip are sure to become a family favorite!

I know it’s definitely one of my favorite dessert dip recipes after all!

Ingredients

This recipe uses really simple ingredients that can be found in any grocery store.

I like to look at the following ingredients in two sets: The delicious ingredients you’ll need to make the fruit dip, and the selection of fruits you’ll need to make the rainbow fruit skewers.

Raspberry Cheesecake Dip

Here’s what you’ll need to make this dip:

Fresh Raspberries
Cream cheese
Heavy whipping cream / heavy cream
Sweetener of choice
Salt
Lemon
Pure Vanilla Extract

As far as the sweetener goes, I like white / granulated sugar as a default. It’s a good, neutral flavoured choice.

To make this dip keto friendly, use an Erythritol / Monkfruit Blend Sweetener.

Powdered sugar can be used, but you’ll want to use about 50% more - go by taste.

Maple sugar or brown sugar can be used 1:1 in place of all or some of the sugar, but either one will impart extra flavours on the dip.

Heart Shaped Fruit Skewers

The only ingredients you’ll need to make the delicious skewers are a selection of fruit.

The following fruit was chosen because it’s easy to cut into uniform shapes:

Pineapple
Seedless Watermelon
Honeydew Melon
Cantaloupe

... but don’t let that stop you from including your favorite fruit in the lineup. Any fresh fruit that slices cleanly and holds its shape when speared will be a great choice.

Equipment

In addition to the dip ingredients and a variety of fruits, there are a few pieces of equipment that help out with this dessert recipe:

Mini Food Processor

I use a mini food processor to blend the berries and cream cheese together.

You can use a stick blender, electric mixer, or stand mixer if you prefer, but the berries may not end up quite as well incorporated.

Cookie Cutters

I like to use mini cookie cutters to cut melon into fun shapes. In this case, I used Mini Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters.

I recommend using metal - you want a nice sharp edge, especially when cutting the pineapple!

Bamboo Skewers

I like to use wooden skewers / wooden sticks, rather than metal skewers for fresh fruit skewers. They look better and are more comfortable, IMHO.

As pictured, I used 2 different types of skewers in this post:

- Heart-Shaped Bamboo Cocktail Picks : I dislodged the heart and moved it closer to the end of each skewer, to allow for more fruit to fit on each of the rainbow fruit kabobs.

- 5.9" Acrylic Gem End Bamboo Skewers: I used the ones with the clear gem, to not distract from what was going on with the already colorful fruit skewers.

Depending on the size of the sticks, the sizing of the cutouts, and how many fruit pieces you want on each of the fruity kabobs, lollipop sticks could be used in a pinch.

The lack of a pointed end makes threading them for difficult, though!

Variations

While I love this combination as-is, there are easy ways to customize the this to your preferences. A few ideas:

Change the Skewers

If you’re not married to the idea of using cookie cutters to cut heart shaped fruit pieces, you can look to your favorite fruits.

Grapes - purple grapes, green grapes, whatever - and berries can be used as-is (I’ll usually cut fresh strawberries in half, though), and larger fruit can be cut into bite-sized pieces, or scooped with a melon baller.

If you’re using banana or apple slices (I love green apples with this dip), just toss the cut pieces with a little lemon juice, to prevent browning.

I like to have a variety of fruit on hand when I make any kind of cheesecake dip, but even just a pound of strawberries makes a perfect snack.

Sometimes I’ll skip making fruit kebabs altogether, and just serve my favorite dippers on a platter.

It’s a good idea to have some cocktail sticks / olive picks / toothpicks on hand when you’re not using skewers, though!

Add some Graham Crackers

I love a graham cracker crust when it comes to actual cheesecake, but tend to skip it when making dip, focusing on the delicious cheesecake flavor, rather than the full cheesecake experience.

Part of this is out of laziness, part of it’s because commercial gluten free graham crackers are gross. (My Gluten Free Graham Crackers Recipe, though, is fantastic!)

If you’d like to involve graham crackers with this dip, you can use the crackers as dippers, or crumble them up and use the graham cracker crumbs as a garnish on top of the tip.

Vanilla wafers are another option, along those lines.

Change the “Cheesecake”!

Swap the fresh raspberries out for strawberries, and you have a strawberry cheesecake dip.

Use a cup of cherry pie filling instead, and you have yourself a cherry cheesecake dip!

Add ½-2/3 cup melted chocolate to the softened cream cheese, and you’ve got a chocolate cheesecake dip recipe. (This is especially fun with a chocolate drizzle on top - chocolate sauce, or a little bit of melted chocolate!).

How to Make Raspberry Cheesecake Dip

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

In a mini food processor, blend the raspberries, sugar, and salt until smooth.

Note: If you’d like, you can press this mixture through a fine sieve to remove the seeds, we don’t bother.

Add the softened cream cheese (room temperature, ideally), lemon zest, and vanilla, blend until smooth and well combined. Set cheesecake mixture aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.

Note: Alternatively, you can whip the cream in th bowl of a stand mixer fixed with a whisk attachment.

Add raspberry cream cheese mixture to the bowl, fold until well combined.

Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap - or transfer to an airtight container - and chill until use.

Stored in a sealed container, this cream cheese dip will last for 3 days or so.

Heart Shaped Fruit Skewers

Using a sharp knife, cut the top and bottom off the pineapple, cut into ½"-¾" thick slices.

Cut the watermelon into ½-¾" thick slices.

Cut the honeydew and cantaloupe in half. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp from each melon half, discard. Cut each half into ½-¾" thick slices.

Arrange the skewers in a single layer on your favourite serving platter - in a rainbow shape, if you’re feeling extra.

Leftover fruit can be chopped up as a quick fruit salad.

Transfer raspberry cheesecake dip to a serving bowl (I like to use a small bowl, with leftovers kept in the fridge), and serve immediately.

If not serving immediately, cover serving dish with plastic wrap and chill until use.

Fresh fruit kabobs are best when served the same day.

More Gluten Free Skewer Recipes!

Looking for more excuses to serve gluten-free food on a stick? Here are some fun ideas for you!

Antipasto Skewers
Berry Skewers with Keto Mojito Cheesecake Dip
Fajita Chicken Kebabs
Gluten Free Chicken Satay
Greek Chicken Souvlaki
Greek Salad Skewers
Hawaiian Pizza Skewers
Hop Marinated Chicken Skewers
Jambalaya Skewers
Muffaletta Skewers
Rainbow Fruit Skewers with Mimosa Cheesecake Dip
Tropical Fruit Skewers with Pina Colada Dip

Share the Love!

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