Cheesecake question

16 years ago

Here I go again, asking questions!

In June, we will be attending a 50th anniversary party. The couple are special friends of ours. They have every thing they need and or want. I had the pleasure of making the save the date cards for them, but they insisted on paying for them. That said, here is my idea:

DS has a recipe for New York style cheesecake that he learned to make in highschool that is great. I was thinking about making this in mini muffin tins instead of in the usual 9" springform pan, and contributing them to the party.

Here is my question:

Will this work and how long would I bake them? As written, the recipe calls for a water bath, which he sometimes uses, sometimes not. The last time I made it, I just put a pan of water in the oven, instead of the cake pan in the water as he did in school. It does have a graham cracker crust on the bottom, but not up the sides. I was thinking of using muffin papers, also. I thought it would be great bite size pieces to nibble and carry around. It will be an outside party.

Your thoughts and ideas, please?

Tami

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Comments (7)

claire_de_luna
16 years ago
Tami, I think that could work. Since you have until June, there's plenty of time to test run the recipe and see how it works for you. If you need to make improvements or changes you can. How sweet of you to want to do this.

I would probably invest in some mini-cheesecake pans with push up bottoms, instead of using liners. (I think the cheesecake sticking to the liner could be quite a mess to eat.) If you baked the cheesecakes and served them in loose muffin papers instead, that could work as part of the service/presentation. I know there is a recipe included with the Norpro pan which would give you accurate baking times.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mini Cheesecake Pan
lindac
16 years ago
I butter the pans well and put in some crumbs...graham cracker, ground nuts, or chocolate teddy grahams, put some in shake it around and dump the excess.
then almost fill with cheese cake batter...I also sue the new york style....and bake...no worrying abhout water bath. bakew at 350 until just beginning rto brown...8 to 10 minutes, ands test one to see if it's set....don't want to ovefr bake.
Cool, dump out of the pan adn wile and re bitter and make some more.
My recipe uses 3 half pound pkges of cheese....eggs and sugar, forgetr how much....but that makes about 5 dozen!!
Linda C
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Linda - The recipe is from the Philadelphia brand cream cheese cheesecake cookbook (one of my favorite cookbooks!) - crust: nuts, sugar, butter - filling: 4 packages cream cheese, sugar, flour, eggs, sour cream, cold water, instant coffee, cinnamon. Think it would freeze? I won't have a problem making this the day of the party, but I haven't tried this recipe before so didn't want to risk it not turning out good at the last minute. Would like to make early to taste it - but, alas, I don't need a whole cheesecake! ~ Thanks ~ Suzie
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Carla : I came across the CheeseCake Question; you posted in May, while looking for something and realized I never put in the recipe. I worked on a new one for a few months. It is Fluffy. Thought you might want to give it a try.It is easy to make and has a Great flavor. LOU Fluffy Cheesecake Ingredients: 6 extra large eggs, Separated 1 cup of Vanilla Ice Cream 1 Â¼ Cups of Sugar 1 /4 pound of Butter (softened in micro wave and let cool but still soft) 2 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. ( 16 Oz. )At room temp. Sugar Â¾ cup for Batter and Â½ cup for egg whites 1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice 6 Tablespoons of Orange juice2 teaspoons of Vanilla flavor 2 heaping tablespoons of AP flour Beat the egg whites, until they start to peak. Add the Â½ cup of Sugar, A little at a time, at a medium speed for 1 minute. Beat for another 3 minutes, or until they hold stiff peaks. Put aside, until the batter is mixed. In a bowl large enough to hold the batter and beaten egg whites, Add the 6 egg yolks, Cream Cheese, Â¾ cup of Sugar, Lemon juice, Orange Juice, Softened butter, Vanilla flavor, Flour and Ice Cream. Beat this for 3 to 4 minutes, until smooth, add Cornstarch and mix on low speed 1 minute. Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the cake batter, using a rubber spatula. Then fold in the remaining egg whites , very easily but well. Pour this into a 9 x 13 in. SS Pan or your favorite pan, that is oiled and dusted with flour. Or you can use a Graham Cracker crust. Place this Pan into a slightly larger pan, that has about Â¾ inches of water. And then place pans into a pre heated 320 degree oven on the middle shelf. Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes or until the top is a Golden tan ( not Dark Tan !!! ) Turn the oven off but leave the cake in, until it cools down. When cooled down, cover the top with Aluminum Foil and refrigerate, for at least 1 hour. You can add a topping of your choice , a Pineapple Sauce, preserves, thickened peach pie filling , etc. Seems to be OK for freezing.
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Homey - I almost never post on this forum but I'll help you out. Ricotta can make a great cheesecake. You can simply bake ricotta actually, and don't even call it a "cake". The texture will not be smooth like with Philadelphia Cream Cheese. You can use a crust that's kind of a pate sucree - mix together some butter, flour and sugar and add an egg or two. Can incorporate crushed nuts of some sort if you want. Bake it a bit before putting in the filling - many people don't do that but they should. Matter of fact, do that with the graham cracker crust too - if you put a wet filling on an unbaked crust, the crust will never quite cook right. But be careful - it will burn fast so watch it. When you're making a cheesecake, what you're really making is a custard. You thicken a custard with eggs. When the temp gets hot enough to change the proteins of the eggs, they solidify and that's why your custard hardens. Exactly the same thing you do with flan, etc. So when you cook it, don't leave it in the oven until it's completely done. Take it out or stop cooking it when the center is still kind of gooey - the internal temp of the custard will finish the cooking itself. If you cook until done completely, you'll end up with an overcooked cheesecake and it won't be smooth. You don't have to use Philadelphia cream cheese obviously, and the better the cheese, the better the finished product. You can actually make your own and it will be delicious. Get some good yogurt, or make your own yogurt, and strain it well. That's essentially cream cheese - the commercial version adds a lot of starch and stabilizers, but the original is very common in the Middle East, Greece, and France. Whatever you use, if you whip the batter and incorporate a lot of air, you'll end up with a kind of souffle that will rise and sink, so it's better to mix by hand or with minimal help from the food processor or whatever else you're using. As always, don't worry about specific measurements in your cooking. As a rule of thumb, if you use those 8 oz packages of cheese, use one egg per package and a tablespoon of sugar. If you like it sweeter, use a bit more sugar or honey or maple syrup or whatever. Also add a pinch of salt and maybe a few drops of vanilla. From there, you can go anywhere. When they're in season, I add blueberries or raspberries or strawberries, etc. Or peaches, which are wonderful. You can put in a food processor or put in chunks. For the holidays, add pumpkin - baked not canned because it's less watery, and add some cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc. Or dice up a jalapeno really fine and incorporate that. Or burnt butter or a banana or melted chocolate or peanut butter. You don't need a "recipe" for any of those - just add what you feel will work. It's the ratio of liquid to egg and the cooking time that is going to make the difference in your final product. You don't need to add sour cream, and I wouldn't. Or you can make a savory cheesecake - forego the sugar and add chunks of blue cheese, mushrooms, herbs, or whatever. It's essentially a kind of quiche at that point. What you should NOT do is use condensed milk. That's way too sweet and has a grainy texture that's horrid. If you want something similar, make dulce de leche or confiture du lait - you can do it in a crock pot. Use about 1/2 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of milk and add about a quarter spoon of salt. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down way low and simmer until it's reduced to a fraction of what it was. You decide how thick you want it. Good luck and happy baking!
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We had cheesecakes every day at a restaurant where I worked. Putting parchment or baking paper on the bottom of the pan only made a mess when trying to slide the cheesecake off the pan bottom- do be sure the bottom is facing with the lip edge down as Lou suggests. If parchment was used it would often foul up on the spatula being used to ease the cheesecake off and get all bunched up under the bottom crust. So we would just grease the bottom well. You can use parchment around the sides so the cheesecake doesn't stick on the sides. It should peel off easily if you have greased it.
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annie1992
16 years ago
I agree, it'll work with muffin cups. I've seen cheesecakes made in mini muffin cups too, with a single gingersnap or vanilla wafer or oreo as the bottom crust.

Skip the bain marie (water bath) and just bake them without and if I were going to use muffin pan liners, I think I'd go with the foil/metal type, they seem to release the cheesecake batter more easily.

Good luck, what a nice thing to do. And congratulations to the couple, 50 years is quite an accomplishment.

Annie
tami_ohio
Original Author
16 years ago
Oh boy!!!! Linda, if your recipe makes about 5 dozen, I better cut ours in half! DS's full recipe calls for 3 POUNDS of cream cheese!

He was afraid of the cone shape of the mini muffin tins. He took two years of baking and pastry in high school but has only done a little since graduation, as he couldn't get a job doing it. Needless to say, he's out of practice and unsure of changing things so drastically.

These are pretty special people to us. I first met him when I was working for a car dealership. He was our district rep. He would come to the area and about mid week would be our turn for his visit. He would say "Wanna go out tonight?" Answer was always "You bet!" DH, who was my BF at the time, worked afternoon shift. We would go meet him for his lunch, our supper, have a few drinks together after DH went back to work, go back to the motel & call his wife. I only knew her by phone for 3 years! The first time I met her in person, it was like meeting my mother and best friend all in one. We have all been "family" since I first met him at work. They will do anything for anyone. We have a parking spot for the motor home in thier driveway, with an electric outlet, anytime we want to go to Michigan. We will take it up for the weekend when we go for the party in June. There isn't anything I can think of to buy them, but I can contribute to their special day. And of course, there will be willing hands available to help them set up and tear down!

Thanks for the advice. I will certainly be experimenting before June! Besides, making them this size will MAYBE keep me from eating too much of it. I can put most of them in the freezer and nibble as the craving hits without having to over eat such a rich cheesecake. If we make one the usual way, I eat until I almost get sick on it, because it makes so much. I have cut the recipe in half, and if I don't want to make the crust, I can cheat and buy an extral large ready made graham crust, which will just hold a half recipe.

Tami
dirtgirl07
16 years ago
Tami, you might not want this recipe, but the cook time, etc may help.

1 package vanilla wafers
2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line miniature muffin tins with miniature paper liners.

Crush the vanilla wafers, and place 1/2 teaspoon of the crushed vanilla wafers into each paper cup.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top.

Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Top with a teaspoonful of cherry pie filling.

makes 48 miniÂs
dgkritch
16 years ago
I'll vouch for LindaC's cheesecake! We tested several recipes for my mom's 65th birthday a couple of years ago and Linda's won....hands down!

Use the parchment muffin liners.......they don't stick to anything!! In fact, they almost fall off cupcakes before you want them to!

Have you thought about hiring a local photographer as a gift to them? Probably something they wouldn't do for themselves, but it would be nice to commemorate the occasion.

Deanna
tami_ohio
Original Author
16 years ago
Dirtgirl, thanks for the recipe. I may give it a try.

Deanna, thanks for the recommendation on Linda's cheese cake. As to the local photographer, that is already covered, as my daughter will be going, and she IS a photograher! I'm sure that will be her gift.

Tami

Cheesecake question

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claire_de_luna

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