Mini Cheesecakes

I wanted to bake something for my most recent wine tasting party. It was still a little warmer than I like it and I really didn't want to heat up the house too much.

Since Mini Cheesecakes bake in a cooler oven than lots of baked goods and they're mini, so they don't bake very long, I baked them!

I tweaked this recipe a little, that I found at About.com:Southern Food.

I don't really know what's southern about it. But it looked ok and it was wicked easy.

This is the doubled recipe.



Easy Mini Cheesecakes
2 dozen vanilla wafers
4 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese
1 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla (I used almond extract)
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F

Line two muffin trays with paper liners. Place one vanilla wafer in each muffin cup and set aside.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and almond extract until well blended. Beat in eggs.
When well blended, pour cream cheese mixture over vanilla wafers, evenly between the 24 muffin cups.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Cool completely and add your favorite toppings.

I left some plain, topped some with Lemon Curd and some with Chocolate Ganache.

These really couldn't be easier to make.

Line muffin cups with paper liners and place a vanilla wafer in each one.


Spoon cream cheese mixture into cups and bake at 325F for 25 minutes.


Cool completely.

They all sank in the middle after coming out of the oven. Not really a big deal. The plain ones looked a little funky. But the ones I topped had a built in cup for toppings!

I left 8 of these plain and just sprinkled them with powdered sugar.



I topped 8 of them with Lemon Curd.




I topped the remaining 8 with Chocolate Ganache.




Personally... I thought that both the Lemon Curd & Chocolate Ganache really overpowered the flavor of the cheesecake. But opinions were split. Some people agreed and others thought both worked really well.

I think over all, this isn't a really flavorful cheesecake.

Definitely not bad and so quick and easy I'll definitely use it again. Maybe more extract... or extract plus vanilla... or some sour cream. I'll keep playing around with it.

They were good... and everyone liked them. I just don't think they were 'great'.