Margarita Cheesecake Mousse

Tequila and lime-fueled tingle in a cooling summer dish

Cheesecake? Absolutely! But who wants to turn on the oven in this heat?

Enter Margarita Cheesecake Mousse. It’s a rich, no-bake tongue pleaser that’s loaded with flavor.

The taste mimics that of its namesake cocktail. But there’s no hangover if you have one too many.

We’ll, um, drink to that.

Recipe: Margarita Cheesecake Mousse

A Margarita Cocktail combines tequila, lime, and triple sec. Margarita Cheesecake Mousse plays on this theme, adding cream cheese for flavor and body, plus whipped cream because, well, whipped cream. The result is pure bliss.

Mrs. Kitchen Riffs is the dessert maven in our household. She adapted this recipe from several she found on the interwebs, including this one.

This recipe takes about 20 minutes to make. Then you need to allow at least an hour for it to chill in the refrigerator.

The recipe yields 4 to 6 servings. But it’s easy to double or halve it to suit your needs.

Ingredients

• 2 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese (preferably full fat)
• 2½ cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) tequila
• zest and juice of 3 to 4 limes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• garnish of lime wedges or slices (optional)

Procedure

1. Using a stand mixer (or in a large bowl, using a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until they’re smooth. 
2. Add the tequila, lime zest and juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
3. Using a separate bowl, whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream-cheese mixture. 
4. Spoon the cheesecake mousse into serving dishes or glasses. Cover each dish with plastic wrap, then chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
5. Garnish each dish with a lime wedge or slice, if desired.

Notes

• Want extra garnish? Just sprinkle on some additional lime zest.
• You could also garnish each dish with a dollop of whipped cream. Though that will make an already-rich dish even more decadent. 
• Some recipes call for serving this dish with a graham cracker crust. We don’t recommend this unless you like graham crackers in your Margaritas.
• If you want to serve this dish with a crust, we recommend using one that’s made with saltines. See, for example, the crust we used in our recipe for Atlantic Beach Pie. The saltiness of this crust mimics the salty rim that some people like on Margarita cocktails. 
• If you make this with a crust, you could tamp the crust down in a pie dish, then add the topping. This turns the dish into a pie that you can slice. We’ve made the dish both ways, and much prefer going the individual-serving route. 
• The ramekins in our pictures hold 6 ounces, which makes for fairly large servings. You could use 4-ounce ramekins if you prefer. 
• This dish also looks great when served in a fancy glass. Such as a cocktail glass, for example – with a lime slice for garnish. 
• This dessert has some booze in it. Not a lot, but probably enough to cause a reaction for people who don’t tolerate alcohol. 
• The tequila does add quite nice flavor to this dish. You could make it without, but the dish wouldn’t be as good.

Mousseketeers

“Yummo,” I said. “This dessert is perfect for summer dinner parties.”

“If we could have dinner parties,” said Mrs. Kitchen Riffs.

“Yeah, this social distancing is getting old,” I said. “But at least we can chill in our own private Margaritaville.”

“And with all the cream cheese and whipped cream in this dish, we won’t be wasting away,” said Mrs K R.

“Though we may go feral,” I said.

“True,” said Mrs K R. “We might need to learn socialization skills all over again.” 

You mean, like not eating dessert first?

You may also enjoy reading about:
Margarita Cocktail
Atlantic Beach Pie
Atlantic Beach Pie
Blueberry-Lemon Parfait
Lemon Cheesecake with Walnut Crust
Dark and Stormy Icebox Cake
Fruit Salad with Champagne
Grape Flaugnarde (Flan)
Easy Peach Cobbler
Peachy Cream Shortcake
Or check out the index for more