The Perfect Little Bite!

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I get a big kick out of Eric’s co-workers. If someone is having a party or if there something going on that they want others to know about, they send out MS Outlook meeting notices. Quick, easy, good way to see who can come and who can’t without tracking them down. Why, yes, I accept your meeting invitation for copious amounts of wine and food on Saturday night from 6 until 11. LOL. That’s just hysterical to me.

Eric informed me of such a meeting notice earlier this week. Hooray! A chance to make up some goodies and spend a nice evening with friends. Since we were doing a “wine” theme (I say “wine” because, yes, we were drinking wine, but there was no rhyme or reason to what we were drinking, no structured tasting or anything, it’s more like lets pop a bunch of bottles and see how many we can kill over the next six hours.) so I decided a nice bite-sized dessert would go well with the spread of appetizers we chowed down on. Eric wanted me to do the Oreo truffles, but….as much as love those….they’ve been done! Time for something a little bit more sophisticated….it was a wine night, after all. Heh…

I decided to go with bite-sized, mini-cheesecakes. Easy, creamy, always a crowd pleaser! I did a lemon-scented cheesecake with a mixed berry topping. They came out perfect! Light and refreshing. The perfect little bite. Easier to transport and even easier to eat! Big hit at the party. I even kept a few behind at home so we had a couple to snack on.

I found a basic mini-cheesecake recipe and modified it some. I decided to stick with the standard graham cracker crust and thought that worked out well in my mini muffin tins. YUM!!

LEMON SCENTED MINI-CHEESECAKES WITH MIXED BERRY TOPPING (Recipe inspired by: Allrecipes.com)

Makes 48 cheesecakes

Cheescakes:

• 1 sleeve honey graham crackers, crushed to fine crumbs
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• small splash of vanilla
• Mixed berry topping (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 24 tin mini muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter, stir with a fork until just moistened. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of crumbs into each liner and pack down (a shot glass is a useful tool for this!) Bake the crusts for about 8 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, cream together cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla until well combined. Top each crust with the mixture, filling the cups almost to the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Top each cheesecake with about 1/2 teaspoon of the berry topping. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving. Store leftovers covered in the fridge.

Topping:

• 1 (16 oz) package frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
• 1 /4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 teaspoons of cornstarch

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the berries are reduced and the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool before using. Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

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