Mini Cheesecakes

Summer as I know it is about to come to an end in five days.  There will be no more breakfast on my front porch.  Sleeping past five AM will be not be a choice.  Reading a good book late at night will come to a screeching halt.  Summer has been fun, but way too short.  School is starting a month earlier than most schools in other parts of the country.  We get lots of breaks, but I so miss the first day of school starting  after Labor Day!   It will be bedtime at 9:30 and the alarm will go off at 4:50!    So Tuesday it is official I will a working girl again!

Now for these delicious mini cheesecakes you will need a special pan.  They each have a removable bottom.  After baking and refrigerating the cakes you can gently remove them by pushing from the bottom.  Genius!!!    I purchased mine about 4 years ago at Crate and Barrel.  I have seen them at Williams-Sonoma, but your best bet maybe here at Amazon.  I have made these several times and they are so good.  I will have to say that I have been very disappointed in that they will sink when you take them out of the oven.  I’ve shortened the mixing time thinking that I beat too much air into them, but that is not the problem.  Cooking them  in a water bath as you do the large cheesecake might be the answer, but  I can live with the way they look! The water bath will be too much trouble for these cuties .  Use fresh fruit or a dollop of freshly whipped cream to fill in the small sink hole.    Serving them is a snap.    They can be made a day in advance and you don’t have to worry about cutting and serving at the last-minute.   So enjoy the end of your summer with a little cheesecake!

Here’s the crust.  Use a heaping tablespoon for each one.  Find something that you can use to press the crust with.  Your fingers, a small glass, or I used a pampered chef utensil for small tart pastry.

Here’s what they will look like right out of the oven.  Puffed up flowers!

Now here they are after a day in the refrigerator and decorated with fresh fruit.

Mini Cheese Cakes recipe from bakeware box

Yield: 12 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients:

Crusts:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Filling

• 2  8-ounce packages cream cheese softened
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1/4 cup heavy cream at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Have all ingredients at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Lightly grease cups of the cheesecake pan. I used Crisco.
4. Mix together all the ingredients for the crust in a small bowl.
5. Place a heaping tablespoon in each cup.  I did not use all of the crust mixture.
6. Take a small glass or other utensil and press the crust into the bottom of the pan.  Try not to go up the sides.  You will not get a distinct layer between the crust and cheese if you go up the sides.
7. Bake the crusts for about 10 minutes.
8. Let the pan and crust cool completely on a wire rack.
9. Reduce the oven to 300 degrees.
10. For the filling using an electric mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth about 2 minutes.
11. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat after each addition.
12. Add cream and beat for about 1 minute.
13. Add sugar and salt and beat for about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides as you are beating.
14. Beat in vanilla.
15. Place 2 Tablespoons of the filling on top of the baked crusts.  You will have some filling left over.
16. Bake until set about 20 minutes.  They will look like puffed up flowers, but will fall and have a sink hole in the middle.
17. Cool completely and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before removing from pans.
18. Decorate with freshly cut fruit or top with a tablespoon of freshly whipped cream.
19. Enjoy!

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