Today's adventure: Cheesecake Tarts.
I arrived home after another day to find, sitting on the floor, a beautiful box. The lid was open and peeking out from styrofoam was a gorgeous Empire Green 6 quart Kitchenaid lift-stand mixer.
Like a kid at Christmas, (well, it was my Christmas present to myself) I tore into the box, setting the mixer on the counter and examining the rest of the package, grunting like a Tool Time acolyte.
There's something about heavy equipment that stirs the soul. Whether it be cars, power tools or kitchen equipment, I love it. All the parts were there, and I couldn't wait to start my cheesecakes.
2 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Vanilla wafers
Canned pie filling of choice. I prefer cherry.
Preheat oven to 350*.
Beat cream cheese on medium until light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar, continuing to beat on medium until sugar is fully mixed into the cream cheese. Add one egg at a time, beating completely after adding each egg. Stir in vanilla. Line muffin pan with 12 muffin liners and place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cup. Fill each cup almost to the top. Bake for 20 minutes. After removal allow to stand for about 10 minutes, or until cool enough to cover muffin pan, with tarts still in place, with plastic wrap. Place entire pan in refrigerator and refrigerate overnight. Spoon pie filling into center of tarts, refrigerate for at least one hour and serve.
There's not much to say about this adventure. It was pretty darned successful. The tarts still need to chill in the fridge overnight, and I'll need to add the cherry pie filling to the top of them before I leave for work, but they look good. The only issue I have is that they cracked on top while baking. I'm not that concerned about it, as I'm going to add the filling, but it will be an issue when I bake a larger cheesecake because it won't be pretty. People talk about how hard cheesecake is. So far the two times I've made it it's been a piece of.... {ahem} yeah.... cake. The mixer did exactly what it was supposed to do, and cleanup was a snap compared to past experience using a hand mixer.
Next time I'm going to try adding some cocoa, or perhaps some nutmeg and/or cinnamon for variation.
I arrived home after another day to find, sitting on the floor, a beautiful box. The lid was open and peeking out from styrofoam was a gorgeous Empire Green 6 quart Kitchenaid lift-stand mixer.
Like a kid at Christmas, (well, it was my Christmas present to myself) I tore into the box, setting the mixer on the counter and examining the rest of the package, grunting like a Tool Time acolyte.
There's something about heavy equipment that stirs the soul. Whether it be cars, power tools or kitchen equipment, I love it. All the parts were there, and I couldn't wait to start my cheesecakes.
2 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Vanilla wafers
Canned pie filling of choice. I prefer cherry.
Preheat oven to 350*.
Beat cream cheese on medium until light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar, continuing to beat on medium until sugar is fully mixed into the cream cheese. Add one egg at a time, beating completely after adding each egg. Stir in vanilla. Line muffin pan with 12 muffin liners and place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cup. Fill each cup almost to the top. Bake for 20 minutes. After removal allow to stand for about 10 minutes, or until cool enough to cover muffin pan, with tarts still in place, with plastic wrap. Place entire pan in refrigerator and refrigerate overnight. Spoon pie filling into center of tarts, refrigerate for at least one hour and serve.
There's not much to say about this adventure. It was pretty darned successful. The tarts still need to chill in the fridge overnight, and I'll need to add the cherry pie filling to the top of them before I leave for work, but they look good. The only issue I have is that they cracked on top while baking. I'm not that concerned about it, as I'm going to add the filling, but it will be an issue when I bake a larger cheesecake because it won't be pretty. People talk about how hard cheesecake is. So far the two times I've made it it's been a piece of.... {ahem} yeah.... cake. The mixer did exactly what it was supposed to do, and cleanup was a snap compared to past experience using a hand mixer.
Next time I'm going to try adding some cocoa, or perhaps some nutmeg and/or cinnamon for variation.
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