Mini Cheese Cakes served at Membership Open House

Betsy Davis serving Cheese Cake Bites

Outstanding dessert and beautiful presentation, these are a special treat for company and family. If doubling the recipe, make it one batch at a time.
A recipe for cheesecake can be found on page 170 in Tastes & Treasures cookbook.

Lemon-Blueberry Cheesecake Bites
T= Tablespoon
t= teaspoon

Ingredients:
Crust:  
2 T sugar
½ stick butter, soft
¼ t ground cinnamon
9 graham crackers

Filling:
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 lemons, the zest and juice (not Meyer lemons)
½ cup sugar
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream, to dollop on top

Directions Crust:
Preheat oven to 325 F.  Line two 24 count mini cupcake pans with foil cupcake liners and spray the inside with non-stick cooking spray. 
In the bowl of a food processor place the graham crackers, (broken up a bit) sugar, butter and cinnamon.  Pulse until combined and the mixture is the texture of sand.  Transfer the first recipe to a bowl and make the next batch of crust.  Then proceed below. 
Use a Tablespoon to measure and fill the prepared crust into each mini liner, pressing the mixture down with a small bottle; a Tabasco bottle is the perfect size, or you can use your fingers, too. 
Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove crust from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool.  Make the second batch.

Directions Cheesecake Filling:
Place cream cheese, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in the same food processor.
Process about 30 seconds to combine. Scrape down the inside of the bowl once with a small spatula and then pulse the ingredients again until smooth.  Scrape down the inside of the food processor again.
Use a small ice cream scoop to measure the batter into the cooled crust.  Fill each cupcake liner almost full, about ¼- inch from the top.  Smooth the top with a small offset spatula, spoon or butter knife. 
Bake for 15 minutes or until the center only slightly jiggles; do not over bake!
Remove from oven and allow the cheesecake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 
Fill the second batch of prepared cheesecake crusts when they are in the cupcake tins; baking just like the first batch, for about 15 minutes.  Allow them to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack; allow to cool completely.
Transfer the cheesecakes to a container; cover; chill for at least 6 hours; even better if they can set up overnight. 
Just before serving, remove the paper from the cheesecake and top with a dollop of fresh sweetened whipped cream and place 1-3 blueberries on top. 

Makes about 48
Thanks to Chef Leslie Christiansen for recipe and detailed helpful hints.

Note: One small 6 oz container of blueberries has about 120 plus berries in it.

Polka Dot Cheesecake

Something sweet, low in calories, and you make it a day ahead! My kind of recipe. We also like the traditional cheesecake on page 170 in Tastes & Treasures cookbook.

Polka Dot Cheesecake

Directions for Crust:
Preheat oven to 300 F.  Line 8" X 8" pan with baking paper.
In medium sized bowl  mix together 1 cup of graham crumbs with 1/4 cup of melted butter, 2 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 cup of cocoa. Pour mixture into pan.

Directions for Filling:
Beat 16 oz softened cream cheese and add 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 eggs to it. Stir it on low speed and add 1 tbsp of vanilla and 2/3 cups of sour cream. Pour one half of this mixture into pan.

Melt 2 oz of dark chocolate and stir into the other one half of the cream cheese mixture. Put chocolate/cream cheese mixture into pastry bag and place some dots all over your cheesecake.

Bake for an hour at 300 F. Turn off oven but leave the cake inside for an additional one hour.  Refrigerator for 24 hours before serving.

Ingredients for Crust:
1 cup Graham crumbs
¼ cup cocoa
2 tbsp sugar
¼ cup melted butter

Instructions for Filling:
16 oz softened cream cheese
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sour cream

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcake

Chocolate cake combined with cheesecake . . . yummmm.
Make some for your Valentine. Or make other delicious chocolate recipes from Tastes & Treasures cookbook.

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes
Ingredients: 

One 8-oz. tub fat-free cream cheese, room temperature 


1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
1/3 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1 drop vanilla extract

Half of an 18.25-oz. box (about 1 3/4 cups) moist-style devil's food cake mix


3/4 cup club soda 



1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil baking liners.



In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, egg substitute, sweetener, and vanilla extract.

With an electric mixer set to medium speed, beat until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk cake mix with soda until smooth.


Evenly distribute cake mixture among the lined cups of the muffin pan. Smooth out the mixture with the back of a spoon.

Evenly distribute cream-cheese mixture among the cups. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out mostly clean, 24 - 26 minutes. (Make sure the chocolate cake layer is cooked through.)

Allow to cool completely. Enjoy. Refrigerate leftovers.

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1 cupcake (1/12th of recipe)
Calories: 153
Fat: 4.5g
Sodium: 312mg
Carbs: 25g
Fiber: 0.5g
Sugars: 15.5g
Protein: 4.5g

Alternative: If made with an equal amount of granulated white sugar in place of Splenda, each cupcake will have 172 calories, 30g carbs, and 21g sugars.

Thanks to Hungry Girl for the statistics.