Is it okay to freeze a cheesecake for a shorter period of time as opposed to chilling it longer? I'm sure this has happened before... you're bringing the cheesecake to the party, only to realize the recipe you're using tells you chill it for 12 hours! Is there any way around this? Will it come out horribly if we try to use the freezer? Our recipe says chill for 12 hours but we saw another that said 5.5 hours, so I'd be interested as to whether there's a rule of thumb to shorten any given chill time.


Could we freeze it for say 3 hours? (Then let it thaw in the fridge for some amount of time before serving)
Could we try a few freeze/chill/freeze cycles?
Or should we just suck it up, chill it the 12 hours and then tomorrow just eat it ourselves? ;)
Don't freeze it. I tried that. The ice crystals that form at the lower temperature make the cheesecake texture awful and can cause cracks. 

However, people will eat warm cheesecake so just chill it in fridge for whatever amount of time you do have.