Mini Easter Cheesecakes

Recipe courtesy of Chicago Metallic

 

Cheesecake Ingredients

1-8 oz. package cream cheese, slightly softened

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients

recipe courtesy Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumbs

(this will make enough for 2 batches of cheesecakes)

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

5 Tablespoons butter, melted

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Using the mini cheesecake pan, place a disc in each cup.  Spray each cup lightly with Pam.

 

2.Mix crust ingredients together with a rubber spatula. Place approximately 2 teaspoons of crust mix into each cheesecake cup. Press crumbs into cup.  I have a little tool called a tamper that I use for this.

 

3. Using a mixer, blend cream cheese with egg, vanilla, and 1/4 cup sugar.  Fill cups evenly with cheese mixture.  Bake about 14 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and place on rack to cool for about 20 minutes.  The tops will fall as they cool.

 

4. Lightly loosen the cheesecakes around the edges.  Carefully remove the cheesecakes by pushing the handle of a wooden spoon through the hole at the bottom of each cup.  When cool, remove discs from bottom.  Refrigerate until firm and then garnish as desired.

As you can tell from the first picture, I made these for Easter.  To garnish them like I did, grate some chocolate ( a soft Hershey© bar works great for chocolate shavings and curls) and whip some cream (or use Redi-Whip©).  Remove the mini cheesecakes from the refrigerator, pipe some whipped cream on top, place a chocolate egg on top of the whipped cream, and sprinkle the cheesecake with chocolate shavings.  Serve immediately.  I used canned cherry pie filling on one little guy, and whipped cream and caramel sauce on the other one.  Enjoy!