Mini Cheesecake Bites

Who doesn’t just love cheesecake?  I know that it’s a favorite of mine and always has been so I was very excited that our Crazy Cooking Challenge hostess Tina, of Moms Crazy Cooking chose cheesecake for this month’s challenge.  The way that the Crazy Cooking Challenge works is that each month there is a dish that our hostess Tina challenges the participating bloggers to make.  We all go out searching for what we think is the ultimate recipe for that dish and once we find it, we make it and then all on the same day we do our post featuring the recipe.  Sadly, this is the twelfth and final month of the Crazy Cooking Challenge.  It’s been fun participating for all these months and I’m looking forward to hopefully taking on a new cooking challenge in the coming months.

Growing up my Mom used to make wonderful little cookies and pastries for holidays and one of my favorites were her Mini Cheesecake Bites.  Though I have changed her recipe a bit over the years with my changing tastes and diet, these are still totally awesome and remind me very much of my Mom’s wonderful Mini Cheesecake Bites.

Crusts ready for the oven.

I added the cream cheese mixture and they’re ready to bake.

Baked, chilled, decorated and delicious!

Oh and my secret, I love these best straight from the freezer…total YUM!

Mini Cheesecake Bites

• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 tsp. butter, at room temperature
• 2 packets Stevia
• 1/4 tsp. roasted cinnamon 
• 1 lb. cream cheese (I prefer Philadelphia cream cheese), at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 6 packets Stevia
• 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I prefer Breakstone sour cream)

Preheat oven to 375F. Lay the sliced almonds on a foil lined baking sheet and bake until they start to get toasted.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Add the toasted almonds to the bowl of a food processor and using the pulse action, process until they are finely ground.  Add the butter, 2 packets of Stevia and the cinnamon and process until well combined. 

Line mini muffin tins with 36 mini muffin liners and add 1/2 teaspoon of the almond crust mixture to each.  Lightly press the mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup.  Bake for 5 minutes and then allow to cool.

While the crusts are baking and cooling add the cream cheese, egg, 6 packets of Stevia, vanilla bean paste & sour cream to the bowl of a stand mixer and blend until perfectly smooth.  Top each crust with the cream cheese mixture, filling the cup almost to the top.  Bake for 12-15 minutes until the mini cheesecakes are puffed and just starting to get golden on the top.  Remove from the oven and cool completely in the muffin tins. Once cool, remove the cheesecake bites from the pan and refrigerate or freeze.  To serve, top with a piece of candied cherry. 

Enjoy!

My previous Crazy Cooking Challenge entries:

Fried Chicken Challenge:  Copycat “KFC” Original Recipe Fried Chicken **Voted the ULTIMATE recipe of the challenge** 
Smoothie Challenge:  Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie 
Grilled Cheese Sandwich Challenge: Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich 
Blueberry Muffins Challenge:  Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins 
Spaghetti with Red Sauce Challenge:  Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter 
Chocolate Cake Challenge:  Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake 
Chicken Noodle Soup Challenge: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup 
Fudge Challenge: Biscoff Fudge 
Mashed Potato Challenge: Aloo Tikki 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge: Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps 
Mac & Cheese Challenge: Velvety Mac & Cheese

 

Dried Cherry Almond Tart

Can you believe it, we are now at month nine of the Improv Cooking Challenge and I haven’t missed a month yet.  The challenge is hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.  As always I looked forward to participating and finding or coming up with a great recipe which included the two theme ingredients.  This month the participating bloggers were asked to make any recipe of their choosing using the two given ingredients of cherries & almonds.  After all of our recent travels (If anyone is interested, cruise posts are here, here & here.  Travel posts: Ponta Delgada (Azores), Amsterdam, Malmö, Sweden, Copenhagen day 1, day 2 & day 3 and lastly London.) I have been very careful with the amount of sugar, carbs, chemicals & preservatives in our food so this month I wanted to make something delicious which didn’t do the diet in…yet I wanted something on the sweet side so this tart was born.

I decided to use an almond crust which I’ve used numerous times before when making cheese cakes, pies and other tarts and it’s a favorite of mine and oh-so-simple to make.

The crust easily comes together in the food processor and then I just dump it out into the pan I’m using which has been coated with cooking spray.

Then there’s no rolling involved, just press it evenly into the tart pan.

Place the tart pan on a baking sheet.  In this case, because I would be cooking the tart further with the filling, I only cooked the crust for five minutes but if you’re cooking the crust to then add a filling that won’t require further baking, the cooking time increases to about ten minutes or until it is lightly browned.

Without even washing it, I made the filling in the same bowl of the food processor in which I made the crust, so this is a one “bowl” recipe.  I poured the filling over the partially baked crust, added my cherries and it was back into the oven for this tart.

Golden and delicious.  The crust is tender and the filling is custard like and creamy.  The entire tart had a wonderful almond flavor and the cherries were sweet little surprises hidden throughout.  Overall the tart isn’t especially sweet but with a little dot of whipped cream and with the sweetness of the dried cherries, it’s a perfect dessert. 

My previous Improv Cooking Challenge entries:

May 2012  Strawberries & Cream:  Strawberry Soup 
April 2012  Peanut butter & Jelly:  Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars 
March 2012  Potato & Cheese:  Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole 
February 2012  Ginger & Carrots:  Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing 
January 2012 Lemon & Sour Cream:  Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart 
December 2011 Eggnog & Cranberries:  Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter 
November 2011 Pumpkin & Cream Cheese:  Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake 
October 2011 Caramel & Apples:  Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

 Dried Cherry Almond Tart 

• 1 1/2 c. blanched slivered almonds
• 3 packets Stevia 
• 3 TBS. butter, softened
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp almond extract 
• 4 packets Stevia 
• 20-24 dried cherries (You can use more but as they’re very high in sugar I kept my amount low)
• Whey Low powdered, for dusting the plate
• whipped cream, for decorating the plate
• extra dried cherries, to decorate the plate 

Preheat the oven to 350F.  To make the crust, add the almonds to the bowl of a food processor and using the pulse button, process until the almonds are finely ground.  Add the butter and 3 packets of Stevia and process until it all comes together and starts to form a ball.  Put the almond mixture into a 9-inch tart pan which has been sprayed with cooking spray and press the mixture to cover the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes.  The crust will still be very pale but that is okay.   

While the crust is baking, no need to clean out the food processor bowl, just add the whipping cream, eggs, almond extract and 4 packets of stevia and process until fully blended and smooth.

Once the crust comes out of the oven, lower the temperature to 325F.  Pour the egg mixture into the hot crust and place the cherries evenly spread out in the mixture.  They will sink but don’t worry about that. 

Bake for 20-22 minutes until the top is lightly browned and set.  Check the tart as it bakes and if it starts to get too brown just gently place a sheet of foil over the top.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the tart to cool completely before slicing.  Tart can be served at room temperature or chilled.  Decorate with a dusting of Whey Low powdered, some whipped cream and an extra cherry.

Enjoy!