Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Mini Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes

Around the holidays everyone has parties, including me, lots of them.  There was the Christmas Cookie Baking Party and Luncheon, Christmas Eve Party and then Christmas Day Dinner.  When there is a lot of celebrating, I do not want to hang out in the kitchen making food while everyone else is having fun.  I like to make foods that are pre-made and easy to grab, but have to taste delicious. All I want to do is set the food out for everyone to enjoy.  One of the desserts I made over the holidays were Mini Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes topped with fruit.  These little babies take all the fear out of making a whole cheesecake.  Recipe below.  To print recipe, click, highlight and print.

The work station, getting them ready for lovin' from the oven!  I use that wood tart shaper to press the graham cracker crumbs neatly into the paper cups, it works perfectly.
 I got 24 cupcakes out of the batter. Check out all the pretty little vanilla bean flecks in the batter.
 Bake them up, let them cool and.......
 Top with the homemade whipped cream (from this blog 1/3/15), fresh blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and a little lemon zest for added flavor.  Your guests will love them, and they are so easy to make.
Mini Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes

Ingredients
3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs

Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper baking cups. In a small bowl, mix together with a spoon, the graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter.  Press into the bottom of each paper baking cup. 

Beat the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar, vanilla bean paste and the lemon zest with a mixer on medium high speed until all is combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, on low speed, until all is blended together. Spoon into each cup so it is half full.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the centers are set.  Cool completely and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serving Suggestion:  Top with homemade whipped cream, fresh berries and a couple of strips of lemon or orange zest.



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