Crust
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter/margarine
Filling
2 packages (250 gram or 8 oz) cream cheese
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
- Crust: Heat oven to 325 degrees
- Mix crumbs, sugar and margarine/butter. Firmly press rounded tablespoons of crumb mixture into 50-60 mini muffin cups or 12 large muffin cups. Bake 5 minutes,
- Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, juice, peel and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour over crusts filling each ¾ full and then follow the below instructions for toppings.
- Peppermint: Instead of using graham cracker crumbs replace with chocolate cookie crumbs. Place 6 candy canes in a ziplock bag and crush candy canes using a meat pounder/hammer. Sprinkle finely crushed candy canes over the gems.
- Raspberry Swirl: To make the raspberry puree, combine raspberries and sugar to a food processor, and pulse until completely smooth. Pour puree through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of the seeds. To assemble, Dot ½ teaspoon of the raspberry puree in a few dots over the cheesecake filling. Use a toothpick or a wooden skewer to lightly swirl and create a marbled effect.
- Cherry/Blueberry: After cheesecakes have cooled spoon a teaspoon of canned cherry pie filling over each gem.
- Chocolate Swirl: Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips and dot 1/2 teaspoon of the melted chocolate in a few dots over the cheesecake filling. Use a toothpick or wooden skewer to lightly swirl and create a marbled effect.
- Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool before removing from pan.
- Freezing: you can freeze the gems for up to 2 weeks. To serve let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve.
Link to Recipe:Cheesecake Gems
Beat cream cheese, sugar, juice, peel and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. |
Mix crumbs, sugar and margarine/butter. |
You can use chocolate cookie crumbs or ginger snap cookie crumbs also. |
Press into mini cupcake shells or standard large. These are the mini cupcake shells. |
Graham cracker crumbs are used in this picture. |
Dot either raspberry puree or melted chocolate over the cheesecake filling. |
Using a toothpick or wooden skewer lightly swirl to create the marbled effect. |
Remove from paper shell just before serving. |
These gems have a chocolate cookie crust with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top of the cheesecake filling. |
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