Day 18: Mini cheesecakes with cranberry topping

Who doesn't love cheesecake?! These are bite sized cheesecakes and they are great! The best part about these little yummy bites is that they can be made in plenty of different variations. They are traditional cheesecakes that have a graham cracker crust but all of that could be changed up. We top ours with a cranberry jam type topping because its festive for the holidays but they could be topped with lemon curd, any other type of fruit, or possibly even chocolate. Now that sounds good to me! We also came up with an idea a few minutes ago to make the crust with peppermint Oreo cookies. I kinda wish we had thought of that about an hour ago but oh well! If you are a cheesecake lover, you will never return to the Cheesecake Factory again (well, at least for cheesecake) once you taste these.

Here's how you make them!

Mini-Cheesecakes with Cranberry topping- Makes 2 dozen 1 3/4 inch cheesecakes

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until evenly mixed. Spoon 2 rounded teaspoons of crumbs into mini muffin tins and press into bottoms and up the sides.

Soften cream cheese. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar about 3 minutes until smooth preferably with a whisk beater. Beat in the egg, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat until incorporated. Add the sour cream and beat until the mixture is blended.

Fill each graham cracker lined depression almost to the top with batter, using a spoon or a piping bag. Set the mini muffin pans on baking sheets in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. For even baking, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking period. The cakes will puff up but deflate on cooling, leaving shallow hollows perfect for filling with topping. Cool completely in the pans on wire racks. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Fill sink with a few inches of hot tap water. Carefully dip each pan into the water for about 30 seconds, being careful not to allow the water to get to the top of the pan. Use small metal spatula to slip in between the sides of the cakes and the pan to pop out the cakes. There is no need to run the spatula around the sides. The hot water makes unmolding easy.

Cranberry Topping-
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup cranberries
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

In a small saucepan, combine all the topping ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stop stirring, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute, swirling the pan occasionally. The mixture will be thickened but pourable. Allow it to cool to room temperature. Use a small spoon to place about 4 berries with the glaze onto each of the cheesecakes.

Since they need to be refrigerated and cooled for about 3 hours before they can be removed, I don't have a picture of them not in the tins.

So here is what they look like in the tin without being topped. I'll post a picture tomorrow of the final product so you can see how good they look.

It's almost Christmas break! Enjoy your night xoxo