Little treasures...

I was thinking this morning that every time I use one of my mum's recipes, I am only satisfied with the result if it tastes exactly like hers :-)  Even if my dish is nice - if it doesn't taste like my mum's, it's not right.  As a little girl she learned to cook and bake from watching her mother and I guess that's how it happened for me as well.  Having a mum (or dad, for that matter) in the house cooking and baking is a very good inspiration.

My mum makes the best baked cheesecake in the world!  It has a hint of vanilla to it and she sometimes puts raisins into it as well - delicious.  Her recipe uses quark (a type of soft curd cheese) and the cake is just lovely and light.  I will ask her for the recipe, so I can share it with you.

In the meantime I have one for baked mini cheesecakes that I think you will enjoy.  We found that these tasted best the day after baking which is ideal if you want to prepare something for guests in advance.  They also freeze incredibly well - just defrost and you have fresh cheesecakes.  Perfect! 

I will give you the original recipe below which uses cranberries - I replaced these with tinned cherries, cut up into small pieces and put a spoonful of cherry sauce on top (made by reducing some of the juice from the tin plus a few cherry pieces and some sugar over a medium heat).  I also used a different base for the cakes as described below.

Mhm...I could do with one of these little treasures right now...


Mini Cheesecakes (makes 12 mini cakes) - this recipe uses US measurements and temperatures


Ingredients:

12 vanilla wafer cookies or 5oz of crumbles digestive biscuits, mixed with a little butter
16 oz. cream cheese
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup sweetened, dried cranberries
12 fresh cranberries (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (160 c). Line a muffin tin with 12 liners
2. Place one vanilla wafer in each liner.  If using the crumbled biscuit method, simply add a spoonful of the mix to the muffin case and press down with a spoon or small glass to create the base.
3. In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Use a hand mixer to blend well; then stir in dried cranberries.
4. Fill each liner ¾ full with cheesecake batter. Top each cake with a fresh cranberry, if you’d like.
5. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

(recipe from UScranberries.com)