I can’t think of the holidays without thinking of My Mom’s Cheesecake!
Every Family has it’s traditions, and one of My Mother’s is a New Year’s Cheese cake! She would bake up this delight as early as the first day of advent to make sure she could still flawlessly craft the creamy delight, and then she would make a second, and some how always impossibly even tastier delight for New Year’s a few week
For those of us avoiding Eggs, or who find ourselves without an oven, can still make a delicious, dreamy creamy cheese cake! I came up with these beautiful little holiday treats after watching QVC in the late hours of the night, while wondering to myself “How hard can those 80 dollar cheese cakes be to make?”
It turns out the only thing that is faster or easier than making these mini sized dream Cakes, is eating them once they are done!
Ingredients for Filling
- Two 8 Ounce Blocks of Cream Cheese, At room temperature
- One Packet of unflavored Gelatin
- One cup of boiled water right off the stove
- One half Cup of Unbleached Cane Sugar
- Two Teaspoons of Pure Vanilla Extract
Ingredients for The Crust
- 12 Sheets of Grahm Crackers Crushed into fine crumbs, Or three loose cups of Grahm crackers crumbs
- One half cup Butter or Healthy Margerine of Choice, softened
The tools You’ll need
- A small Saucepan
- A heat Safe Rubber Spatula, or Reliable Wooden Spoon
- A Cupcake Mold, Preferably A Silicone one
- A Sturdy Bowl
- Measuring Spoons, and both dry and wet Cups Measures
- A Refrigerator or Freezer
- A pretty Plate To Serve on! : )
How To Make Them!
In a small saucepan, Boil 1 cup of filtered water, pour into a heat safe bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin over and then stir or whisk very well until all of the gelatin is dissolved. Let the mixture cool slightly as you get your other ingredients ready, for the best possible texture.
Next, In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese blocks until smooth and creamy, using a fork or wooden spoon. Then add in sugar and vanilla, give it a really good mix, it will look like the usual cheesecake batter at this point, The next step is to thoroughly incorporate the gelatin water mix, There! Now your batter is ready!
Next take Your Grahm cracker crumbs and your soft butter and cut the butter into the crumbs, until all of the crumbs are coated in butter and you can form them, sort of like cookie dough, when you squeeze the mix in your hand. Add two to three tablespoons, depending on how thick you want the crust of the mix to each cup on your mold. Press it out even over the bottom and half way up the sides.
Spoon the Cheese cake filling even over the crust, going table spoon at a time until you have used all of the batter, or until the molds are full. Any extra batter and crust can be made into something else or eaten as a yummy snack!
Garnish with vanilla confection chips, to avoid using chocolate, as many people have an allergy to cocoa and these little beauties are very allergy friendly to those who can have dairy as the crust can easily be made with gluten free cookies, any Kind you like and can be ground into a fine crust. You can also garnish with Jimmies Sprinkles, (I like a pastel blend) Or with candy pearls (I like Sunny Side Bakery Brand, they are nut fee and delicious!) You Can Even Skip the decoration all together and they will still be delicious! : )
