Strawberry and Lime Mini Cheesecakes Recipe

Strawberry and Lime Mini Cheesecakes
a Cinco De Mayo inspired recipe

Ingredients:

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup caster/white sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon zest (2 limes)
juice of 2 limes
1 cup sliced and hulled strawberries
1-2 tablespoons of caster/white sugar

for the base:
12 biscuits (makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon caster/white sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

6 glass ramekin dishes.

Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter and cinnamon (optional). Mix well and press firmly into the ramekin dishes (alternatively for a larger cheesecake us an 8-inch pie pan). Pat down using the back of a tablespoon. Place in fridge for 30mins to set.

While base is setting. Mix together cream cheese, mascarpone, lime zest, lime juice (I normally put the lime juice in to taste roughly about 2 limes worth but if you would prefer a zestier cheesecake add 1 more) sugar, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer. Pour the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly. Put cheesecakes in the fridge for at least 1 hour to set, (if making a large cheesecake it will need at least 4 hours to set, preferably overnight).

While the cheesecakes are setting, slice the strawberries and sprinkle with a generous amount of sugar (1 to 2 tablespoons). Just before serving spoon the sliced strawberries and juice over the mini cheesecakes.

cook's notes: I have made these cheesecakes many times and they are always dissapear quickly... I will be making them again next week for Cinco De Mayo to go along with burritos, nachos, and possibly some cinnamon tortilla crisps too.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

ingredients:

for the base: 12(biscuits digestive, graham crackers, or chocolate cookies) (makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)
2 tablespoons melted butter
4 tablespoons caster/white sugar

for the cheese cake:
2 pkg. (250g each) cream cheese

1 cup caster (white) sugar
3 100g bars of dark chocolate 72% cocoa*
2 tablespoons cream (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crush the digestive biscuits and add the melted butter and sugar.

Mix well and press firmly into a 8-inch pie pan or use an assortment of ramekins (6) or glasses.

Pat down using the base of a glass for the larger dish and the back of a spoon for smaller ramekins or glasses. Place in fridge for 30mins to set.

While the base is setting mix together the cream cheese, cream, vanilla, and sugar using a wooden spoon or electric mixer.

Break the chocolate into squares and microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until the chocolate is smoothly melted.

Pour the chocolate into the cheese mixture and mix thoroughly. Spoon the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly.

Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least a half an hour before serving.

* I used Mark’s and Spencer’s organic dark chocolate, not because I’m posh but because its some of the nicest smoothest dark chocolate you can buy. If you use a dark chocolate that has a lower cocoa percentage you can lower the amount of sugar it the recipe, its all a matter of personal taste.

cook's notes: The recipe is true to what I mixed together in my experimenting on Sunday night. The cheesecake was dark rich and smooth. I must admit that I prefer and no bake cheesecake to a baked one.. but it could just be that I'm lazy. There is one small ramekin in the fridge for M's pudding tonight which I'm sure he will like because he adores cheesecake.

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edit: slight edit, the vanilla disappeared on me. have re-added it to the list of ingredients. and blogger is being wierd about spacing again.

Dark Cherry Cheesecake

dark cherry cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 1/4 cups biscuit(digestives/grahm cracker) crumbs

2 tablespoon caster (white)sugar

1/4 cup butter melted

For the cheese mixture:

2 tubs ( 250g each ) mascarpone cheese
1 tub (8oz) cream cheese

1/2 cup cream

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract (I used the one with vanilla seeds*)

For the cherry topping:

1 package (480g) frozen dark sweet cherries

2 teaspoons cornflour

1/2 cup sugar

¼ cup water

Method:
Combine the ingredients for the crust and press into the bottom and sides of a 10 inch spring form pan. Or into 8-10 small glass ramekins as I did.

Soften cream cheese and the mascarpone at room temperature and stir in the cream, and the vanilla extract. Mix until smooth then carefully top the biscuit base with the cheese mixture. As I used the ramekin dishes I left a small indent in the cheese mixture so that there would be somewhere to put the topping. Leave cheesecake to set in the refrigerator.

For the topping, place the frozen cherries into add the sugar, vanilla extract, and water, stir well until the mixture boils and thickens, then remove from the heat.

Spoon the cherry topping over the Vanilla Cheesecake once it has cooled and place the cheesecake(s) back into the fridge to chill. I spooned the cherry topping over the cheesecake while the topping was still warm just prior to serving.

Enjoy your freshly made Dark Cherry Cheesecake!

Cook’s notes: first of all the vanilla extract with seeds in was my treat to myself, well my treat to my kitchen, I may not have this whole treating myself thing down right. It is lovely, though and I’m not quite willing to go to the expense of using real vanilla pods though that would be truly lush. The mini cheesecakes turned out quite divine with only semi-posh vanilla extract. And I must say a big thank you to Gu puddings for providing me with all the little glass ramekin dishes.

Strawberry and Lime Mini Cheesecakes

Strawberry and Lime Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup caster/white sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon zest (2 limes)
juice of 2 limes
1 cup sliced and hulled strawberries
1-2 tablespoons of caster/white sugar

for the base:
12 biscuits (makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)2 tablespoons melted butter
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

6 glass ramekin dishes.

Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter and cinnamon (optional). Mix well and press firmly into the ramekin dishes (alternatively for a larger cheesecake us an 8-inch pie pan). Pat down using the back of a tablespoon. Place in fridge for 30mins to set.

While base is setting. Mix together cream cheese, mascarpone, lime zest, lime juice (I normally put the lime juice in to taste roughly about 2 limes worth but if you would prefer a zestier cheesecake add 1 more) sugar, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer. Pour the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly. Put cheesecakes in the fridge for at least 1 hour to set, (if making a large cheesecake it will need at least 4 hours to set, preferably overnight).

While the cheesecakes are setting, slice the strawberries and sprinkle with a generous amount of sugar (1 to 2 tablespoons). Just before serving spoon the sliced strawberries and juice over the mini cheesecakes.

cooks notes: I originally made these mini cheesecakes for Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May a Mexican holiday) I served them after we had nachos, burritos, and refried beans. The cinnamon in the base blends well with the sweet strawberries and the lime cheesecake. M was very impressed, he ate 4 of the 6 ramekins I had made,. H was initially sceptical about it being lime but after eating all the strawberries off the top of his cheesecake he proclaimed that the cheesecake bit was actually "quite nice" .

Mandarin Cheesecake

Mandarin Cheesecake

Ingredients:

3 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened1 pkg.

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. grated mandarin zest (2 mandarins)

juice of 2 mandarins

1 teaspoon vanilla

for the base:

12 biscuits (digestive buiscuits or grahm crackers. makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)

2 tablespoons melted butter

Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Mix well and press firmly into a 8-inch pie pan. Pat down using the base of a glass. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to set.

While the base is setting. Mix together cream cheese, zest, juice (you can put the juice in to your personal taste depending on the size of the mandarins used, alternatively it could be made with tangerines, or any citrus fruit ) sugar, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer. Pour the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly. Put cheesecake in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set, preferably overnight.

cooks notes: Its a very quick cheesecake recipe but the result is a very fresh and delicately citrus flavoured cheesecake. I suppose you could make a baked cheesecake version, but it would loose the light consistency and be a much denser cake and I think that the mandarins had such a lovely flavour that to have bake the cake would have taken away from the fresh citrus-y taste. I took the cheesecake to a dinner party last night and it good rather good reviews off my friends, definitely a keeper recipe. The recipe is my own based on my key lime pie recipe.

Dark Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake

Dark Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake

ingredients:

for the cheese mixture:
2 pkg. (250g each) mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons caster (white) sugar
3 150g bars of dark chocolate 55% cocoa
1 tablespoon butter (i used slightly salted but you can use unsalted)

for the base:
12 biscuits (makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)
2 tablespoons melted butter

Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Mix well and press firmly into a 8-inch pie pan. Pat down using the base of a glass. Place in fridge for 30mins to set.



While base is setting. Mix together the mascarpone and sugar using a wooden spoon or electric mixer. Break the chocolate into squares and microwave with the tablespoon butter until the chocolate is smooth and melted. Pour the chocolate into the mascarpone mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly . Put cheesecake in the for at least a half an hour. The cheesecake is a very firm texture but very lovely and decadent. I served it with a dollop of whipped cream.


cooks notes: The cheesecake turned out lovely I was very happy with the taste of it, the texture is firm and next time I make it I shall try a higher percentage of cocoa in the chocolate but use less of it. The recipe is my own I searched in vain for a dark chocolate cheesecake recipe that was no bake and had no eggs, there was not one to be had so I experimented and the result turned out great, I think that I inherited a cooking gene from my dad.

I shall write up a recipe for the peach cheesecake when I figure out exactly what I did.

Experiments in Cheesecake

ok have been expirimenting with cheesecake today one a dark chocolate and marscapone cheesecake, the other a smaller cinnamon peach cheesecake, I haven't sorted out a recipe yet because we havent eaten them yet. The Dark Chocolate Cheesecake is for a dinner party tommorow night, and the peach one is for M for pudding later, although I'm sure he would rather have the chocolate one all to himself. The mixtures tasted nice if thats any help but I'm not sure yet how the chocolate one will set hopefully it will be ok and not turn hard as a rock but I won't really know till tommorow night. fingers crossed.

Lemon and Mascarpone Cheesecake

Lemon and Mascarpone Cheesecake

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon zest (3 lemon)
juice of 3 lemons
for the base:
12 biscuits (makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)2 tablespoons melted butter
Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Mix well and press firmly into a 8-inch pie pan. Pat down using the base of a glass. Place in fridge for 30mins to set.
While base is setting. Mix together cream cheese, mascarpone, lemon zest, lemon juice (I normally put the lemon juice in to taste roughly about 2 lemons worth but in this instance i used all three for a very lemony cheesecake) sugar, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer. Pour the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly. Put cheesecake in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set, preferably overnight.

cooks notes:

as I had a lot of lemons to use up i used three lemons in the recipe which made for a very tangy refreshing cheesecake but if you don't like lemon quite that much you can just use the juice and zest of two unwaxed lemons.

Key Lime Cheesecake (no bake version)

Key Lime Cheesecake With Biscuit Base

3 pkg. (8 oz. (200 g) each) Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. grated lime zest (2 limes)
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (2 limes)
1 cup whipping cream
pie crust*
Beat cream cheese, sugar, zest, and lime juice with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
In a separate bowl whip the cream then add it to the cheese mixture. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the crust.
refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.
Top with fresh whipped cream just before serving. Store any leftover cheesecake in the refrigerator.

For the crust
12 biscuits (digestives or coconut or graham crackers makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs) 3 tablespoons melted butter
Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Mix well and press firmly into a 8-inch pie pan. refrigerate while preparing the cheesecake filling.

cooks notes:

The cheesecake was much easier to make than the baked version, the addition of the whipped cream made for a much lighter density. I'm quite happy with the result the only drawback is that I used a new zester which was a little bit keen to zest the limes. I think I will definatle use this recipe again in the future. THe origional recipe I found online and adapted it to my way of thinking. Afterall I'm left handed and we do think diffrently! Next time I might experiment with some lemongrass or a bit of ginger, or possibly some cherry topping.