Easy Strawberry Santas (Healthy Cheesecake Dessert)
No-bake Cheesecake Strawberry Santas are a deliciously festive treat for the Christmas season! Fill fresh strawberries with a simple cream cheese filling to make them look like little Santas. With only a handful of simple ingredients, you can create a healthy treat everyone raves about!
The holiday season is notorious for being filled with sugar-filled, calorie-rich treats. While I’m all for indulging a bit, there’s something to be said for finding fun ways to “go light” once in a while!
I have been having so much fun making holiday treats with strawberries! Who knew that the strawberry was a fruit that naturally lent itself so many creative possibilities?
This no-bake Cheesecake Strawberry Santa recipe makes a fun and festive treat that both kids and adults will love. To make these easy strawberry Santas, all you do is stuff strawberries with a cream cheese mixture and shape them to look like cute little guys (Santas, that is).
They’ll be gone faster than you can make them!
If you love strawberries, be sure to check out these Grinch Chocolate Covered Strawberries or Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Christmas Trees! I promise they are just as much fun.
Santa Strawberries Are Guilt-Free
With Strawberry Santas, you can enjoy a healthy, festive dessert after a heavy holiday meal.
These adorable handheld treats are “finger food” at their best – and a must-have for ANY Christmas Charcuterie Board or party platter!
This dessert is inspired by cheesecake and makes the perfect nutrient-rich, guilt-free indulgence. They only taste naughty but do a great job of balancing out all the Christmas cookies!
Aren’t these cheesecake stuffed strawberry Santas such a cute idea? I just knew I had to share them with you because they’re the perfect dessert when you want something a little healthier this time of year!
Ingredients Needed To Make Strawberry Santas
Simple ingredients are all you’ll need for this delicious Strawberry Santas recipe!
- Fresh room temperature strawberries – rinse and dry them
- Cream cheese – let it warm up to room temperature. Want to cut calories and add protein? Try using Greek Yogurt cream cheese!
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Mini chocolate chips – this is what you’ll use for Santa’s eyes
NOTE: For more recipe details and the full recipe, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post!
How To Make Strawberry Santas With Cream Cheese Filling
Follow these simple step-by-step instructions to make these festive treats quickly!
Step 1 – Make Your Cream Cheese Mixture
Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla by hand or with an electric hand mixer in a medium bowl until smooth.
Then place the mixture in a piping bag (or a plastic bag – like a sandwich baggie – and cut off the tip).
Step 2 – Cut Off Strawberry Tops
Use a paring knife to cut off the top of the strawberry (the leaf-end of each strawberry) to form a flat surface to serve as the base.
Step 3 – Cut Off Strawberry Tips
Cut off the pointed end of each strawberry (about ⅓ from the top) to form Santa’s hat.
Step 4 – Stuff Your Strawberry Santas
Pipe a large dollop of the cream cheese mixture onto the strawberry base and pipe a small dot for a button.
Step 5 – Create Your Strawberry Santa Hats
Place the Santa hat on top and pipe a tiny dollop of the mixture on top of the hat for the hat pom.
Step 6 – Add Santa’s Eyes
Place the mini chocolate chips flat side out in the mixture between the base and hat as eyes.
Serve your adorable Strawberry Santas immediately and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
Cold cream cheese is hard and difficult to work with, and you want it to be soft and pliable. Not only will cold cream cheese not blend as well (it’ll be lumpy), but it won’t pipe well either. Make sure it’s at room temperature before you make this recipe.
After you’ve made them, refrigerate your cream cheese stuffed Strawberry Santas so they hold their shape.
If you don’t have a piping bag you can easily use a Ziploc bag and snip the corner to pipe the cream cheese.
These free printable Christmas Bingo cards are just too much fun – kids can’t resist them! Use them at home, at school, on a road trip, or even for a playdate or holiday party!
Variations To Try
This great recipe is a breeze to make, but if you want some variety, here are some ideas of ways to change up these Christmas treats!
- Cream Cheese Alternative – Instead of making the cream cheese mixture, you can use store-bought cream cheese frosting or white frosting.
- Use Different Sweetener – you can use honey instead of the confectioners’ sugar. I prefer powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar) because it helps the cream cheese stiffen and maintain shape, but you can use honey to taste. If you want something low-calorie, you can use stevia powder – measure it the same as your powdered sugar.
- Modify For Different Occasions – You could eliminate the Santa elements and make it a tasty everyday treat. Or modify it for Valentine’s Day by drizzling it with chocolate. For the Fourth of July, stuff your strawberry and top it with blueberry sauce.
- Use Different Eyes – if you don’t want to use mini chocolate chips, you could use drops of decorator icing or chocolate sprinkles!
How To Store Strawberry Santas
- Refrigeration – Plan to store your Santas in the fridge in an airtight container to prevent them from losing their shape or getting crusty.
- Freezing – Unfortunately, you can’t freeze these because of the strawberries (see more below).
Strawberry Santas FAQs
Besides using cream cheese or vanilla frosting, you could also use some homemade whipped cream.
If you’re gonna use whipped cream, I recommend making it really cold and eating your Strawberry Santas immediately because they won’t hold up.
All in all, I prefer the cream cheese mixture because it’s super easy to make, tastes fantastic, and has just the right amount of stiffness to make your strawberry Santas stand up proudly (and adorably)!
Unfortunately, no. Frozen strawberries are mushy and liquidy – which is NOT what you want for cute fruity Santas!
Yes! Just use dairy-free cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese to create your frosting. You’ll have a gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan dessert you can’t resist!
No way! Strawberry Santas must be made on the day you want to eat them because they’ll get mushy and leak juice. Ideally, you make them within a few hours before.
No matter what you plan to make these Cheesecake Strawberry Santas for, plan to make extras because they will ALL get eaten (and enjoyed)!!
More Christmas Fun
- Grinch Rice Krispies Treats: Lazy Moms Version
- Homemade Candy Christmas Tree Pretzels
- Grinch Cookies
- Adorable DIY Rudolph Wood Slice Ornaments
Pin For Later!
Cream Cheese Strawberry Santas
No-bake Cheesecake Strawberry Santas are a deliciously festive treat for the Christmas season! Fill fresh strawberries with a simple cream cheese filling to make them look like little Santas. With only a handful of simple ingredients, you can create a healthy holiday snack everyone raves about!
Ingredients
- 16 oz fresh strawberries, rinsed and dried
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Mini chocolate chips for eyes
Instructions
- Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth then place in a piping bag.
- Cut the top of each strawberry evenly to form the base.
- Cut the tip of each strawberry about ⅓ from the top to form the hat.
- Pipe cream cheese mixture onto the base and pipe a small dot for a button as shown.
- Place the hat on top and pipe a small dab of the mixture to the tip for the hat pom.
- Place the mini chocolate chips flat side out in the mixture between the base and hat as eyes.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
