Craving Cheesecake
Saturday, March 25th, 2006
As most of you know, Evan and I gave up chocolate for Lent so I have had to find creative alternatives to feed my ever aching sweet tooth. I have made lemon bars, ginger cookies and biscotti all without my favorite flavoring. One thing I had a huge hankering for last night was cheesecake. Though seeing as it was 8pm and I had to get up at dawn to go into work, a traditional New York Style or creamy Italian Ricotta cheesecake would not work. The required chill time would mean my cake would be ready by breakfast and I needed to feed my craving that night!
So I remembered a Cream Cheese Tart that I had seen Paula Deen make which I made for an office party. What I forgot about was how easy these little treats were to throw together. As luck would have it,I had all of the ingrediants in the house…I love when that happens! These mini cakes (Evan was shocked at how small they were- portion control my love!) can be made during a commercial break and will be totally baked and cooled by the end of American Idol. They are perfect for a pot luck or dinner party because you can double and triple the recipe easily. I halved the original recipe since I would be the only one eating these gems. But they are perfect for any last minute creamy craving.
Mini Cream Cheese Tarts
adapted from Paula Deen
makes 6 tarts
1 block of softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of extract (Paula uses vanilla but I put almond in)
6 vanilla wafers
topping of choice*
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with liners and drop one wafer, flat side down, into the liner.
2. Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and extract and mix until smooth. Spoon into muffin tin.
3. Bake about 20 minutes until center of each tart is set. Add topping of choice and allow to cool completely in the fridge.
*Paula used cherry pie filling to top her tarts but I used cherry preserves, though you could use an jam, preserve, pie filling or just eat plain!
PS- Evan posted his account of our London trip as well as our pictures here. Also surf around his site for information on making the perfect meatball (he makes the best meatballs- one of the reasons I married him!) as well as other little known news facts. Happy 100th post baby!
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