Cranberry mini cheesecakes
In my world, cranberry sauce is the oft-forgotten side, required by tradition, missed by few if forgotten. So why not give cranberries a seat at the table with all their other fruit brethren, at dessert?
First, I made the cheesecakes in a muffin tin. To avoid the cheesecakes forming little wells, like my first batch, make sure you either use muffin cup liners, or grease the sides of the cups.
I always end up with cracks in my full-sized cheesecakes, because I get impatient during the cooling process. You want to cool cheesecakes slowly. This time, I followed the recommended procedure, and jammed a dish towel in the top of my oven, so the door would stay open a crack.
Mini cheesecakes
(adapted from the Joy of Cooking)
- 2 8 oz. packets of cream cheese
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
for the crust
- 1/2 cup graham cracker or gingersnap crumbs
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
Preheat the oven to 350. Grind or pound the cookies into crumbs, then mix the crumbs with the sugar and melted butter. Line your muffin tin with liners, or butter the cups. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepped muffin cups. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Put the cream cheese into a bowl. (If it’s not already at room temperature, microwave for 30 seconds.) Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Then add the sugar and vanilla, and mix at low speed until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix on low until just combined. Add the cream, and mix as little as possible to combine.
Pour the mixture into the muffin cups. Reduce the heat to 300, and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, turn off the oven, and prop the oven door open a little. Let cool in the oven for an hour. Move to the fridge, and serve after 12 hours of refrigeration.
Makes 12 standard muffin sized cheesecakes, or 24 mini muffin sized.
While your cheesecakes are baking and cooling, you can start making your cranberry topping. Pre-made cranberry sauce ranks up there with Bisquick as one of the most unnecessary items in the grocery store (unless you’re one of those people who has an irrational fondness for something that comes out of a can still shaped like a can.) Basic cranberry sauce is cranberries and sugar and water, with heat applied for 5 to 15 minutes. From there, you can tweak it a million ways! I made mine with apples, to give it a little more sweetness, and ginger, to echo the gingersnap crust on the cheesecake.
Aren’t sure how you like it (or how your sweetie will)? I divided the ingredients between two pots, and only gingered up one of them. To my surprise, the ginger variant outperformed the basic recipe in head-to-head taste tests!
Ginger Apple Cranberry Compote
- 1 tart apple, peeled and cubed (I used a winesap)
- 2 cups (8 oz.) cranberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger (or more, to taste)
- 1/4 cup water
Place all ingredients in a small saucepot. Start heat on medium-high, then reduce to a simmer when it starts bubbling. Cook for 10 minutes, or until desired consistency is reached. (The fruit will break down, and the mixture will thicken as you continue to cook.)
