Happy Saturday. The best week of the year is here: my family’s annual Outer Banks vacation — seven days of uninterrupted time with my nieces, infinite beach naps, and all the peel-and-eat spiced shrimp you could want. Also on the agenda?
Following Jennifer Garner’s orders and prepping one of her favorite treats: this brain-freezy Ina Garten drink, which takes minutes to make and can be “dialed from mocktail to packs-a-punch.”
Pondering this absurd sleep accessory, described as a glorified “Grim Reaper’s hood” by an editor who uses it almost every night and swears by its light-pollution-blocking powers. Given the sheer curtains at our rental, it’s growing more appealing by the minute.
Contemplating whether this deeply questionable Diet Coke beauty product (hint: not lip balm) is a step too far, even for a Diet Coke Expert™ like me. Friends, I fear the answer is a resounding yes.
— Melissa Goldberg / Senior Editor / Washington, DC
Cheesecake Is Good — No-Bake, Scoopable Cheesecake Is Better
theSkimm
Cheesecake is, objectively, the best dessert in existence. It’s also, objectively, one of the most annoying to make. But thanks to the latest in cheesecake technology, it doesn’t have to be. Case in point: Scoopable Cheesecake from Jenna Barnard, author of the upcoming cookbook Simple Sugar. Perfect for days when you wouldn’t dare turn on an oven, this fridge-baked recipe requires zero water baths, zero fussy crust, and zero actual baking. Instead, layers of dense, creamy cheesecake, fresh strawberry sauce, and buttery graham cracker crumbs coalesce into one cool, crowd-pleasing, dangerously easy masterpiece that, as the name implies, is best served by the (ice cream) scoop. No wonder one fan said, “I made it last week and I’m making it again tonight.”
The Time Commitment: About 40 minutes to prepare, plus eight hours (or more) to chill in the fridge.
Key Tips: To shave off roughly 20 minutes of prep, Barnard says you can use canned strawberry pie filling instead. And for the smoothest, silkiest cheesecake base, bring your cream cheese to room temp before mixing.
Other Takes: For other no-bake treats that won’t leave you planted in front of the AC, try…
Key Lime Freeze Bars. These tangy squares are essentially the classic pie’s less needy but equally irresistible cousin — and they taste “like sunshine in a bar.”
Banana Pudding Fluff. Never had the all-American delicacy known as dessert fluff? Imagine the love child of pudding and whipped mousse — loaded with Nilla Wafers and sliced bananas — that requires just five minutes of work.
No-Bake S’mores Icebox Cake. This seven-ingredient showstopper “looks way fancier than it actually is, and it tastes like childhood,” according to one commenter. Sold.
