Perfect Dessert Hunt Complete

My hunt for the perfect dessert yielded one of the best sweet treats I've ever made...well, besides my Tres Leches Cake, which I'll save for a later post. I'm not the world's best baker; Brent can vouch for that based on a Valentine's Day Red Velvet cake flop. But I can certainly cook, so I guess he can trade baking for cooking--if we need delicious pies with homemade crusts and perfect cakes, we'll just call up his sisters.

Back to the subject...here's the recipe for the mini-cheesecakes adapted from Cook's Country Magazine.

Mini Raspberry and Strawberry Cheesecakes

12 Keebler Sandies cookies (they fit perfectly into muffin tins--I used Pecan Sandies because I love pecans)
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup strawberry jam (I used sugar-free because I had it on hand)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
6 fresh raspberries
3 fresh strawberries

Heat oven to 300. Line a muffin pan with 12 liners. Place one cookie in the bottom of each liner. I decided to do half as strawberry and half as raspberry, so place 1 tsp of raspberry jam on top of 6 cookies and 1 tsp strawberry jam on the other 6 cookies.

Strawberry Jam on cookies

In a bowl, mix cream cheese at medium speed for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add condensed milk and mix 1 minute, scraping down sides as necessary. Add one egg at a time, beating another two minutes until well combined and smooth. Divide mixture evenly among liners. Bake 20 minutes, until cheesecakes are set--there should be no jiggle. Let cool about 20 minutes before removing from pan, placing in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Baked cheesecakes--light and fluffy

Microwave remaining jams for about 10 seconds until more liquid. Top each cheesecake with corresponding dollop of jam. Place one fresh raspberry on each raspberry filled cheesecake and place 1/2 of fresh strawberry on each strawberry filled cheesecake.

Makes 12 cheesecakes. I didn't count points. :) 

 

I had to mark the half of my pan with raspberry filling so I could tell them apart once they were baked. Then I placed the raspberry cheesecakes in a different container to cool. Otherwise I would have mixed them up before I topped them.

These were a huge hit with everyone who tried them! I'm planning to make them again for my PEO dessert next week, in a double batch. I may add in a blueberry flavor next time--red white and blue. So easy to do!