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A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me a way to get the cheesecake flavor and texture without taking several hours to bake and cool before serving. If you need to provide individually portioned snacks or dessert to a casual party or gathering, these simple cheesecakes are easy to make and disappear fast.
We'll use Vanilla Wafer cookies (Nabisco's Nilla Wafers is the most commonly available brand) as a bottom crust for these cheesecake cupcakes. To make a dozen cheesecakes, gather up one pound (455 g) cream cheese, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar. The cheesecakes can be topped with whatever you like - maraschino cherries, streusel, Hershey's kisses. I like to use mandarin orange slices. [IMG]
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl and beat on medium-low speed until creamy. [IMG]
Starting with softened cream cheese will speed up the process, but even cold cream cheese will eventually beat in with the eggs to form a creamy mixture. [IMG]
Place cupcake or muffin liners (also called baking cups) into each cup of a muffin pan. While preparing these pictures and reading up on other recipes, I read a recipe that recommended getting aluminum cupcake liners but removing the paper layer (aluminum muffin liners have an inner paper lining placed within the aluminum liner). I decided to take this opportunity to test out different liners: aluminum with paper insert, aluminum without paper, and paper muffin liners. Aluminum with paper is what I recommend (more on why later).
Place a vanilla wafer cookie into the bottom of each muffin liner. [IMG]
Pour the cheesecake batter into each muffin liner. Fill to about 3/4 full. The batter should be sufficient for twelve cupcakes with possibly a little left over. Top the individual cheesecakes. [IMG]
Bake the cheesecake cupcakes for about 15 minutes in the preheated 350°F (175°C) oven. As soon as the cheesecakes are set, remove the muffin pan and let it cool for a couple minutes on a wire rack. After the pan has cooled a bit, pull out each of the cheesecakes and let them completely cool before refrigerating. [IMG]
While pulling out the baking cups from the muffin pan, I realized that the aluminum liners made it easy to lift up and pull out. The cupcakes lined with only paper cups were a bit more difficult to grasp and lift up due to the less rigid nature of the liner.
However, the paper lined cupcakes peeled easily while the aluminum only cup had a tendency to stick to the cheesecake. Sometimes while peeling the aluminum lining off, it would tear the cupcake. So, for the best of both worlds, use the aluminum baking cups with the paper lining left inside.
After chilling, the cheesecakes will keep for a couple days - ready for a quick snack or for delivery to your next get-together. [IMG]
Cheesecake cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes, can be scaled)
I once made 300 of these mini cheesecakes for a friends wedding reception. How I wish I had seen your recipe first! The cookie-as-crust thing is genious... I spent hours and hours pressing graham cracker crumbs into teeny paper cups with my thumbs.
Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 10 Location: Vancouver BC
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject:
For chocolate cheesecake, I usually use about 1 oz (1 square of bakers chocolate) per 8 oz package of cream cheese. So for this recipe, you'd likely want 2 oz.
Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 1654 Location: Austin, TX (USA)
Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:49 am Post subject: Re: mini muffin
awi wrote:
I want to try this recipe using a mini muffin pan. How long do you think the baking time will be?
For something that small, I'd rely on examination over an estimated baking time. Start by checking at 8 minutes and check every two minutes after that. Just gently swing the pan left and right a little and see if the center of the cupcakes still jiggle. If they barely move (about as stiff as jello) then they are done. If they move as if they were liquid, keep baking.
After your first batch, add up the time in the oven and subtract a few minutes and use that as your new first check point for testing doneness on your second batch. On your third batch, you'll probably know the exact time it takes to set your cupcakes with your mini-muffin pan and oven.
Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 1654 Location: Austin, TX (USA)
Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 4:33 am Post subject: Re: Cheesecake Cupcakes-Puff up
Anonymous wrote:
When I baked them, they puffed up and fell, is this normal?
They might puff up if air bubbles are trapped in the batter. Try letting them sit for half an hour before you bake (and aggitate the pan intermittantly) to let bubbles work themselves out before baking if this happens all the time for you.
Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 10 Location: Vancouver BC
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:36 pm Post subject:
I've always found if you soften the cream cheese with the sugar, and minimize mixing after adding the eggs you don't get the aeration in the batter.
Crystal, I did a quick and dirty calculation on the nutritionals of the mini cheesecakes. I used USDA database numbers on the full fat versions of all the ingredients. If you get 12 mini cheesecakes out of this recipe, here's the nutrition content (including the vanilla wafer, but no topping):
Calories 210
Fat 15 g
Calories from Fat 135
Protein 4 g
Carbohydrates 14 g
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