mini blueberry cheesecake tarts

I was so enamored with the little chocolate cookie crusts from my previous post, I made them again for my second day of Thanksgiving "Harvest Potluck" at my kids' school last year. (The first day was for my oldest son, the second day was for my daughter, as they have their potlucks on different days). This time, instead of using the cookie crusts for mini chocolate cream pies, I turned them into mini blueberry cheesecake tarts! 

You can check out my previous post on how I made the cookie crusts, but for this filling I made a no-bake cheesecake type of filling. I've made it before for large tarts (such as this flag tart and this father's day tart), and the filling worked just as well for mini tarts. (You can find the recipe at Martha Stewart's website.)

After using a disposable pastry bag to pipe the filling into each cookie crust, I topped them with fresh blueberries. So simple and easy!

The final step was a light dusting of powdered sugar.

This cookie crust and filling combo is so versatile, you could top them with any fresh fruit, or even a drizzle of salted caramel or chocolate ganache instead of fruit would be delicious!

These little tarts are the perfect portable dessert for potlucks or picnis, and elegant enough to serve at dinner parties as well! Enjoy!

mini pumpkin swirl cheesecakes

It's about that time of year where everything in pumpkin flavor starts to show up everywhere! And these are no exception. I made these mini cheesecakes for Thanksgiving last year, but I think they would be great around Halloween time as well!

It starts with an Oreo cookie crust, made with melted butter mixed with pulverized Oreo cookies (filling and all). I used this recipe from Crazy For Crust, but you could also do a graham cracker crust if you like. Just press the crust mixture into the bottom of a cupcake tin lined with paper liners.

Next comes the filling!

The basic recipe for the filling is in my book, except instead of topping the cheesecakes with jam after baking, I mixed a small portion of the filling with canned pumpkin puree, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, and ground ginger (you could also use pumpkin pie spice to make it easier). (See here for other filling options!)

After adding a few dollops of the pumpkin mixture on the top of the filling, I used a toothpick to swirl it around into a pretty pattern.

Then I baked them in a water bath at 325F for 20-25 minutes, until set and just barely jiggly in the center. (Note that it's important to bake them in a water bath to prevent cracking!)

Then I popped them into the fridge to let them cool and continue setting, until it was time to serve them!

You could also use raspberry puree or blueberry puree instead of the pumpkin, but I think the pumpkin swirl is just perfect for this time of year!

Enjoy!

pink baby shower dessert table - sugar cookie favors, macarons, mini cheesecakes, and ruffle cake

In addition to the pink ruffle flower cake that I made for my best friend Sue's baby shower, I also made a few other items for the dessert table! I envisioned a girly pink table, with handmade tissue pom poms floating above the table, and some desserts on tiered cake stands beside the cake. In front would be onesie and flower sugar cookie favors, and the table would also include some fizzy pink lemonade in cute drinking jars. Here's the sketch that I made during the planning:

And here's how the desserts turned out!

The first dessert I started on was the sugar cookies a week before the shower, since I would be wrapping them individually as the favors and they keep really well this way. I decided on onesie cookies, as well as flower cookies (click on the links for more details).

I did the onesies in white, with pink outlines...

... and the flowers in pink, with white centers.

Then three days before the shower, I made the strawberry macarons, since they need at least 24 hours to set in the fridge.



Two days before the shower, I made the mini cheesecakes. The crust was made with a combination of chocolate graham cracker crumbs, and regular graham cracker crumbs...

... topped with a creamy cheesecake batter and baked in a water bath to avoid cracks ...

.. and the top was decorated with fresh strawberries and strawberry jam to hold them in place.



Finally, the day before the shower I baked and decorated the pink ruffle flower cake (shown in my my previous post).



During the week I also made these mint ice cubes to put in a cute pitcher of water.

The secret to getting the mint leaves to stay in the middle of the ice cube (instead of floating on top) was to fill the ice cube trays halfway and then place the mint leaf in the tray, freeze it to keep the leaf in place, and then fill the rest of the ice cube tray to trap the leaf perfectly in the middle!

Oh and I forgot to mention the handmade tissue pom poms! I started on them about a month before the shower - I would make one or two whenever I had some free time, using this tutorial at Martha Stewart. I ended up making ten poms (five above the dessert table, and five above the food table), and they turned out super cute! I ordered tissue paper in various colors from Amazon - pale pink, darker pink, and two different shades of gold.

I also bought cute pink stripe paper straws, wooden utensils, and cute paper plates and napkins on Amazon.

Sue loves afternoon tea, so the girls and I had decided to make that the theme. We made various tea sandwiches, deviled eggs, scones, tossed salad and fruit salad, and had a cheese and crackers platter as well. We also had four different flavors of tea at the drink station, as well as the mint ice water and more fizzy pink lemonade.

Everything turned out lovely and we had such a great time celebrating Sue and her baby girl on the way!

Happy baby shower, Sue!!! We love you!

mini heart individual cheesecakes for valentine's day

For Valentine's weekend this year, I decided to make these mini cheesecakes decorated with mini raspberry puree hearts! I've made similar cheesecakes in the past (see here for raspberry and here for blueberry), but I always gave them a marbled look with the fruit puree. This time, I was inspired by all the cute heart desserts and things on Pinterest (such as these adorable heart cookies at Annies Eats, or this gorgeous cheesecake decorated with mini hearts at Cooking Classy), so I decided to use the same technique to make little individual cheesecakes instead.

First I made a simple crust with chocolate graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. I placed a couple teaspoons of the crust mixture into each cup of a cupcake pan lined with paper liners, and gently patted down the crusts before baking them at 350F for about 7 minutes. Then while they were cooling, I got started on the filling.

The cheesecake filling was made with cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. So simple! Once it was all mixed well, I used an ice cream scoop to plop one scoop directly on top of the cooled crusts.

Next I made the raspberry puree. I threw a couple of handfuls of fresh raspberries into a food processor, tossed in some sugar, pureed it, and then strained it. I discarded the seeds and used the smooth puree to make the hearts.

Now for the fun part - I used a small spoon to dollop a few dots of the raspberry puree on top of the filling. 

And then I used a toothpick to "connect the dots" and draw a line through the center of each dot. And that's how you get the adorable mini hearts!

Once all the hearts were "drawn", I baked the cheesecakes in a water bath at 325F for about 25 minutes. When they were done, I let them come to room temperature, and then put them in the fridge to set overnight.

I like these best cold and straight out of the fridge, but you can also serve them at room temperature once they are set.

Happy belated Valentine's Day! Hope you had a great one!

*** Update: You can now find the recipe for mini cheesecakes in my new book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!

raspberry marbled mini cheesecakes

My friend Sue invited me to her sister-in-law Nicolle's birthday pool party, and it was a potluck so I decided to bring dessert.  I had just made this classic cheesecake earlier in the week, so I was still in a cheesecake-making mood. :)  But I wanted to make something hand-held and easy to eat, so I made mini raspberry marbled cheesecakes!

I used the same recipe for the mini cheesecakes I made here, which started with making a graham cracker crust in the bottom of each cupcake liner.

Once the crust had baked up golden brown and cooled, I quickly whipped up the cheesecake filling, and then poured them over the crusts.

Then I pureed and strained some raspberries for the raspberry marble swirl.

Using a spoon, a dolloped a few drops of the raspberry puree onto the cheesecakes.

And then used a toothpick to create the swirl effect.

Then I placed the whole cupcake pan onto a 12x17 baking pan, filled the pan halfway with hot water, and baked the cheesecakes in the water bath.  And when they were done, there were no cracks!  Yay!

The mini cheesecakes turned out great, and the hint of raspberry swirl was a perfect compliment to the creaminess of the cheesecake.  We all had a blast at the pool party (especially the kids!).

Hope you had a happy birthday, Nicolle!

*** Update:

I also made these with a Valentine's Day version of these with cute heart design, using the raspberry puree and a toothpick! Check it out here!