Twice Baked Jumbo Mini Cheesecakes Recipes

TWICE-BAKED JUMBO MINI CHEESECAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins (tassie pans) with paper liners (2 inches in diameter).
• Finely crush the vanilla wafers and graham crackers, preferably in a blender or a household mixer. Brown the butter on low heat.
• Mix the wafers, crackers and the butter in a bowl with a spoon until the crumbs begin to stick together. Place the crumbs into the paper liners and use a spoon to flatten them to make the crust even.
• Bake the crusts for 5 minutes. Cool in room temperature for 5 minutes.
• In a separate bowl, beat sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until they begin to thicken. Add cream cheese, lemon or lime juice and vanilla extract and continue beating. If the mixture ends up looking a little lumpy, that is perfectly normal and the lumps will disappear in the oven. Place the cream cheese mixture on top of the crusts (the paper liners will only be filled up to one-half or so).
• Bake for 15 minutes. Cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours (cooling overnight works very well if the cheesecakes are made a day in advance).
• (Optional) Cut the strawberries in half and put on top of 8 of the cheesecakes.
• (Optional) Pan-fry the bacon with maple syrup. Cut each slice in half and put one piece each on top of 8 of the cheesecakes.
• (Optional) Melt the chocolate using a double boiler and add the butter. Spoon the chocolate ganache on top of 8 of the cheesecakes and put them back in the fridge for 30 minutes.

CHEESECAKE FOR TWO

Steps:

• For the crust: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line 2 cups of a jumbo muffin tin with liners, and coat with cooking spray.
• Pulse the graham crackers, butter and sugar in a food processor until fine and crumbly (the mixture should hold together when squeezed). Divide the mixture evenly between the 2 liners, and press it into the bottoms and about 1/4 inch up the sides with your fingers. Bake until the crusts are slightly golden, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely.
• For the filling: Wipe out the food processor. Process the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, egg, flour, lemon zest, vanilla and salt until smooth. Divide the batter between the 2 liners. Fill all the empty muffin cups about halfway with water. Bake the cheesecakes until they are just set in the center and just barely jiggle, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature in the tin on a cooling rack.
• Pop the cheesecakes out of the tin with the help of a large spoon, and refrigerate loosely covered until chilled, 4 hours up to overnight. Before serving, stir the strawberries and jam together, and top the cheesecakes with the mixture, dividing evenly.