Recipe: sweet and savoury cheesecakes

sweet cheesecakes out of the oven...

I certainly love cheesecakes:  baked, non-baked, sweet, savoury... Any excuse to have cheese into my meal is good enough for me.  But now I got hold of a new aspect:  individual cheesecakes.  No more cutting, no diet pieces, all in the wonderful muffin form that is so practical.  

This weekend I used two recipes and discovered just how much better a good thing can become:

Mini sweet cheesecakes

adapted from Joy of Baking

sweet cheesecake with
gooseberry topping

Crust

100g graham crackers, pulsed

60g melted butter

Filling
450g full fat cream cheese

120g sugar

130g mascarpone

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla paste

zest from half a lemon

Print recipe

Preheat oven at 150 degrees C.   Line a 12-muffin tray with paper liners.  In a bowl, mix crumbs with melted butter, and spoon about 1tsp of the mix at the base.  Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

For the filling:  In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar and mascarpone.  I personally prefer to use a whisker for such operations, but feel free to use a hand mixer at low speed.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated.  Finish with the vanilla paste and the lemon zest.

Take muffin tray out of the fridge.  Spoon mixture in the muffin cups.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Leave to cool off, gently peel off paper liners, cover with the topping of your choice and enjoy!!!

Mini savoury cheesecakes

adapted from the Vegetarian Pantry

(as seen in Vegetarian Living magazine, Apr '13) 

these are also out of the oven...

Crust

120g crissini (I used with rosemary), whizzed to crumbs

60g melted butter

Filling

150g cream cheese

150g ricotta cheese

75g mascarpone

1tsp mustard

3 eggs, separated

100g grated pecorino

50g grated parmesan

black pepper

Print recipe

... and ready to be eaten!

Preheat oven at 150 degrees C.   Line a 12-muffin tray with paper liners.  In a bowl, mix crumbs with melted butter, and spoon about 1tsp of the mix at the base.  Bake for about 8 minutes.

For the filling:  In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, egg yolks, ricotta and mascarpone  (again, use either a whisker or a hand mixer at low speed).  Beat egg whites until they have soft peaks and incorporate (1 tablespoon first, rest calmly and serenely...). Finish with the grated pecorino and a bit of black pepper (I didn't use any salt, because of the cheeses I used).

Spoon mixture in the muffin cups.  Top with grated parmesan.  Bake for about 30 minutes.  Leave to cool off, gently peel off paper liners and enjoy!!!

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.