Mini Blueberry Cheesecake

Cheesecakes intimidate me. To start with, it’s a sosyal food. Then it’s complicated to make (sort of) because you have to usually cook it in a bain-marie. Also, cream cheese is a bit pricey here in the Philippines. And I’m not really a fan of cheesecakes,  so  I never thought I’d ever make one.

But all of these changed when I chanced upon an episode of Anna Olson’s Fresh on the Asian Food Channel. She made mini lemon meringue cheesecakes and turned a complicated recipe into a simple one. First there was no bain-marie method involved (thank God!) and they were so tiny, so they cook fast. The serving portion is just perfect, and they were so cute to look at. With her recipe, I was determined to make one too.

As fate would have it, last Wednesday, we threw a surprise baby shower for my sister. It was my chance to try out her recipe. However, my sister’s having a baby boy, so color-wise, yellow wouldn’t go well with the theme. It has to be blue! (Last year, I made pink cupcakes for my other sister’s baby shower). So what is a blue cheesecake? Go figure!

Loosely-based on Anna Olson’s lemon meringue cheesecake recipe, here’s my mini blueberry cheesecake recipe:

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 cups crushed graham crackers
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 3 T white sugar

Cheesecake:

• 2 bars of 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 t vanilla
• 1/2 t fine salt
• 1 21-oz can of blueberry pie filling/topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C and line 3/4 oz mini muffin tins with paper cups.
2. To make crust, combine until evenly blended the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl.
3. Press around half a tablespoon of crumbs onto the bottoms of the muffin cups. Set aside.
4. To make the cheesecake, with the lowest speed setting, beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.
5. Gradually add sugar and salt while beating, scraping the sides of the bowl often.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated.
7. Add the vanilla extract and heavy cream and mix well.
8. Let the cheesecake batter rest for around 10 minutes to remove most of the air bubbles that were formed during the mixing process.
9. Scoop cheesecake batter into prepared crusts and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until firm but the centers of the cheesecakes still a bit jiggly. 
10. Remove from the oven and let coolthen refrigerate (a few hours or even overnight).
11. Serve with chilled blueberries (with sauce) on top.

Yield: 72 mini cheesecakes

This is just for a basic cheesecake recipe. There are hundreds of toppings you can use to suit the flavor you want. Make one today.

Enjoy!

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