I have a bit of a fixation with cream cheese of late. I just cannot get enough of baking recipes that use this creamy, unctuous ingredient. I also love pairing cream cheese with savoury ingredients – I am looking at you, smoked salmon – but when there is a block of cream cheese within arm`s reach I WILL turn it into a sweet treat. Continue reading
I am hosting Easter brunch for the family this year and as usual, most of my effort is going on desserts.
Oh sure, there will be savoury dishes – and mimosas, hurrah! – but all the fun stuff is always sweet stuff.
Miss 11 is helping and has already baked three chocolate cakes to be transformed into an Easter-themed showstopper cake.
And Miss 9 will be helping to make waffles for the hordes in my fancy new-ish waffle maker.
But the part of the meal I am looking forward to the most – aside from aforementioned Mimosas – are these delicious individual Easter-themed cheescakes.
I love baked cheesecake and was thinking of making one large cheesecake but instead went for mini cheesecakes.
I decorated these cheat`s mini Easter cheesecakes with candy Easter eggs. Mine are M&Ms and I have to say I don`t love all the colours in the pack (I`m looking at you, orange) but I could not find the Cadbury version with the pastel version. That`s probably coz I bought them weeks and weeks ago, before all the good Easter stuff was out.
May the bunny be kind and may your Mimosa be never-ending.
GATHER:
12 Granita / plain sweet biscuits
2 x 250 g cream cheese brought to room temperature, diced
2 eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
Rind of one large lemon finely grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
36 candy-covered Easter eggs
100 grams white chocolate.
LET`S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 150C.
Get 12 cupcake wrappers and line them up on the bench, then carefully place a biscuit in the bottom of each wrapper. Then place each wrapper into a hole of a muffin pan.
Beat cream cheese in electric mixer until smooth, scrape down sides of bowl with spatula, then beat in sugar in three lots until combined.
With mixer on low beat in eggs, lemon rind, juice and vanilla until smooth.
Use an ice-cream scoop to dollop batter on top of each biscuit – leave a 1cm gap at the top.
Bake for 17 minutes until the cheesecake no longer has a wobble and is beginning to turn lightly golden around the edges.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.
When cold melt white chocolate in microwave on low setting in 15 seconds increments until melted – depending on the brand of chocolate you may need to add ½ teaspoon of canola oil to help it melt evenly.
Place a small amount of melted chocolate in the centre of eacg cheesecake then place three eggs into the melted chocolate, using it as a glue to set the eggs.
Place in fridge until serving.
Got a hankering for cheesecake and chocolate chips and cookie dough and squares? Do I have a fabulous recipe for you! Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake squares are the ultimate in desserts – gooey and crunchy and soft and moreish and more! Continue reading
I have written before of my love for individual desserts. I think they look chic, there is less mess when serving to guests, and as they are small you can have more than one #forTheWin Continue reading
Oh Donna, you’ve done it again. I reckon that Ms Hay’s eponymous magazine is just getting better as time goes on. There’s a wider variety of recipes and they are all just so tempting that I every time a new edition appears in my letterbox I want to race to the kitchen and bake. That’s surely a sign of a fab mag.
The recent issue 68 had a cheesecake special, which totally had me drooling. The recipe that most caught my eye was dark chocolate coconut mini cheesecakes with pomegranate syrup. Not being a pomegranate fan I omitted this but don’t think mine were any the poorer for it. Continue reading
the hungry mum 