Little Bites of Heaven

Or as the recipe titles them, Mini Cheesecakes. My family loves these. They are the perfect size for my kids little hands and I do not feel as guilty if I eat one small cake instead of a larger piece from a large cheesecake.

I was having a Scentsy party (www.jackieallred.scentsy.us, if you need anything) and I wanted a few yummy treats for guests to grab on their way out the door. I have experimented with a few varieties of the cheesecakes (we really like the strawberry and vanilla). This time I decided to try making lemon, as well as, the vanilla cheesecake. They turned out pretty good. I was very happy with them. My family and guests seemed to like them too.

Mini Cheesecakes

Place cupcake wrappers in muffin tin and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the following in a small bowl:
5 T. melted butter
1 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

Stir with fork until all crumbs are moistened. Scoop 1 T. of the mixture into the bottom of the paper baking cups. Press down. Bake for 6 minutes at 325. Remove from oven and cool. Increase temperature in oven to 350 degrees F. Place shallow baking dish or sheet pan on bottom rack in oven and fill with hot water.



In mixer:
3-8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
Mix until creamy about 1 minute.
Add:
3/4 c. plus 2 T. sugar
Mix until smooth, about another minute.
Add:
1 1/2 t. all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 T whipping cream, 1 1/2 T lemon juice, 2 t. vanilla and mix until creamy. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl. Add 3 eggs, one at a time mixing completely after each addition. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl again during this process.
Fill muffin liners about 3/4 full. Use about half of the batter. To remaining batter add 1/2 t. lemon zest and 3/4 t. lemon extract. Mix slightly to distribute flavor. Fill remaining paper liners.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 25 minutes and then remove from pans and let cool on rack for 1 hour. Place in refrigerator to cool for 4-6 hours.

Meanwhile melt 1 t. butter with 1/2 c. whipping cream. Once butter in melted remove from heat and add 1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 minute and then stir until smooth. Let cool until pourable, about 30 minutes.

Zest one lemon. Sprinkle with sugar and heat in small saute pan for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand to cool.

Once the cheesecakes are cool, remove from refrigerator and on top of vanilla cheesecakes pour chocolate sauce and smooth. Or you can pour the chocolate into a small baggie and cut a small corner off and pipe on in swirls or hearts or any cute shape. On top of the lemon cheesecakes place a little of the sugared zest. Serve cooled. Makes about 30 mini cheesecakes with left over crust that can be frozen for future use.

Tips:

-I use the foil baking liners with the paper removed. I like these because they do not stick to the papers as much if I use the foil.
-Do not spray the liners. I thought this would help them to not stick but all it does is add the spray to your dessert.
-You can use Nilla Wafers or half an Oreo(scrap off the filling) in the bottom of the liner instead of the graham crust. I like the graham crust and it was super easy.
-If you want a smooth cheesecake make sure your cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature. Cold cream cheese will not smooth out very well and adding cold eggs will make the cream cheese seize up. If you get them pout about 4 hours before you make the cheesecake you should be good.
-I used to be a Pampered Chef consultant so I have all of the cooking utensils, so I used the small scoop and the tart press for the crusts, the large scoop for the filling and the zester for the lemon zest. I also used both the PC muffin stone and a couple other metal muffin pans. They both worked the same except I had to cook the PC ones about 3 minutes longer.

I will make the strawberry ones pictured in the header again and post about making those too. Let me know if these work for you!