Mini Lemon Cheesecakes

It's amazing how children are so easily amused. A tiny piece of thread can be such an interesting object. An empty roll of tape can keep them entertained for hours. With children, magic does exist, and I proved it today, I even used a wand (and soap and water). It's a plastic bottle with a plastic bubble wand that I just refill with shampoo whenever it's empty. Didn't cost me much, you can probably get it anywhere but it gave me magic. A magical moment of seeing those beautiful girls (all dressed in pink coincidentally and mostly toddlers) running around on the park grass squealing with delight, throwing themselves precariously, all hoping to capture maybe one illusive bubble of the hundreds of bubbles that I was producing with the bubble wand. The eldest of the group even went to fetch a plastic square lunchbox and proudly held it up to me and said "I'm going to catch it". I wasn't going to explain to her that you can't really catch a bubble...because I loved the fact that she believed she could, I didn't want to burst her own little bubble because I know that life probably will...so why rush?
I love the innocence in those children's eyes. Most people lose their sense of wonder as they grow. Many get hung up on life's negativity and forget to appreciate the simpler things in life. I have seen my share of sadness and maybe have more waiting for me, but children are a blessing and are probably the only thing that makes life worth living.

So how does this relate to food? Well, as I mentioned before in a previous post, I think the reason why I love making desserts is because I never lost MY sense of wonder and I am such a child on the inside. My husband always says it and I always feel it. I don't play with my children just to entertain them, I play because I love playing! Now I cannot always play the way children do so I play around in the kitchen! I think we all need a creative outlet and to "play" and have fun with something.



So this is what I played with today...some lemons, cream cheese & biscuits and I had so much fun! These little cute cheesecakes are the easiest little things to make and they are perfect portions for parties or afternoon teas or just to eat whenever you feel like it!



Mini Lemon Cheesecakes:
(makes 12 mini-cheesecakes)

crust:
100g. plain biscuits crushed
50g. butter melted
1/4 tsp lemon extract

filling:
500g cream cheese
zest of 2 lemons
2 eggs
70g caster sugar


topping choices:

one:
3/4 jar apricot jam of glaze
2 tsp lemon juice

two:
1 small pot fromage-frais or sour cream
1tsp lemon extract
1 tsp acacia honey

Process the biscuits, butter and extract until smooth. Press biscuits in a baking ring or a muffin pan lined with paper muffin cups. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the cheese, sugar and zest till combined and smooth, add eggs and mix well. Add the cheese mixture to biscuit until almost full. Bake in a low oven (150 degrees) for 30 mins. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

To make the glaze melt the jam with the lemon juice until warm and smooth (pass through a sieve if necessary). Pour onto the tops of the cheesecake, allow to set in the fridge.

To make the white topping mix the fromage-frais or sour cream with the lemon juice and honey until completely smooth. Add to the cheesecakes and allow to cool in the fridge.



To make the caramelized lemons, place thinly sliced lemons on a baking sheet and sprinkle with caster sugar (you can bake these with the cheesecakes.)
To make the sugared lemon strips see here but substitute the orange zest for lemon zest.



Even though I already submitted an entry for Sugar High Friday, I decided these little cakes deserve it more! Once again Sugar High Friday's created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess & hosted by Tartelette.

I Love Cheesecake Pops...

This is my first official Daring Bakers challenge and I was so excited to get my hands sticky with the Cheesecake Pops hosted by Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms & Deborah from Taste & Tell and they are adapted from the book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor. The whole idea of making cheesecake pops seems really unique...I mean I've seen cake pops & even cupcake pops at Bakerella's blog. But cheesecake pops? Now this is a first. I wanted to make the pops unique, I really like the idea of making cheesecake balls dipped in chocolate, but I wanted more of a challenge and more room for personalization. So I dug up an old heart-shaped ice-cube mold and decided to use it to create heart-shaped pops! I started to make the actual cheesecake, which calls for a huge amount of cream-cheese. Everything seemed to work well except that it took a lot longer then 40 mins in the oven (about 77 mins). The hardest part was getting the cheese-cake into and out of the mold because it was a bit fluffy (which is why it tasted amazing), but that made it hard to get rid of any air-bubbles. I froze the mold in the freezer for a few hours and then had to carefully pop the little cheesecake hearts out without squishing them. Finally, I used a candy fork to dip the pops in white chocolate cake covering (by super cook) mixed with pink food coloring. I let it harden before I drizzled the dark chocolate on top and finally stuck the bamboo skewers into the center (couldn't find lollipop sticks here in Dubai). It was so much fun to have an idea and then see it work and so here are the making-of images and also the recipe for the pops!!
For more pops look at all the other Daring Bakers' creations, thanks to Lisa & Ivonne we have a new website and public forum set up which is great for people who need advice and help with baking and don't want to commit to baking a challenge every month!



This is the original recipe:

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)


Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional



Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.



When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.



I had so much left-over cheesecake after making the pops that I made mini-cheesecakes with crushed digestive biscuits and decorated them with the remaining chocolate & strawberries...
This cheesecake is so versatile and tastes so great, I definately think I will make it again. A couple of night after making the pops (of course they were all gone), a friend came over and I had some left-over cheesecake sitting in the fridge. I crushed some digestive biscuits in a bowl, scooped out some cheesecake on top and drizzled it with chocolate sauce...it was heavenly!