Monday, May 11, 2009

A New Twist to a Tried & True Recipe

Last week, I had the privelege of providing a meal for a young couple in my church that just had a new baby girl!  While I was there I even got to hold her...just a week old! Oh what sweetness!

One of the items that I brought was my tried & true no bake cheesecake recipe.  However, knowing that it was just the couple I didn't want to make a full recipe and take it and then it possibly get wasted from them not being able to eat all of it.

I decided to make a double batch of the cheesecake and make some mini cheesecakes. So I decided to pulled from my pantry a box of mini foil/paper liners and a bag of Nilla wafers.  I know you think I am crazy because I didn't want to make full recipe for fear of it going to waste so I make a double recipe instead?!?  Anyway, having never used Nilla wafers with my cheesecake recipe, I wasn't sure as to how it would turn out but I figured they would be less messy than making up homemade graham cracker crust to press into each mini cup. 



The fun part of this whole process was that the Nilla wafers were exactly the size I needed to cover the bottom of each of the mini cup liners, which I separated the paper and the foil liners so I had twice as many to work with.  I did learn that the cheesecake holds it form and doesn't soak through on the foil liners so next time I do this I will just use the foil liners and save the paper ones for baking muffins or brownies.


Once I had the cheesecake mixture made up I used my large scoop to put the mixture on the Nilla wafers.  As you can see from the picture, one scoop was plenty to fill each liner.  The other thing I did was put those liners on a cookie sheet rather than in my mini muffin pans because it was easier and less trouble than trying to pull out full cups out of the pans.  

Since I was running short on time the day I was making these little mini cheesecakes, I decided to speed up the process of "firming" the cheesecake up by sticking the cookie sheets with the mini cakes in the freezer for about an hour. In doing the "firming" in the freezer it kept the Nilla wafers from going mushy.  I ended up with a crisp crust.  A word of warning....if you stick them in the fridge afterwards you will find that the Nilla wafers will soften and you will have soft crust.  So it is your choice as to which type of crust you would like to have with your cheesecake. 

I left them plain and did not add any garnish to them. I placed eight of them on a paper plate and then into a ziploc bag(something disposable so I did not have to worry about getting a container back from them) to take with the meal for this couple.  

I will be making these again because they were quick and easy to put together. They are small enough for little hands to handle yet big enough for adults to get a couple bites of a sweet, delectable dessert.  Also having them as mini cheesecakes rather than one big one allows for several different garnishes to be put on them.  This dessert would be great to make up plain for gatherings and serve several garnishes on the side for guests to choose their favorite. 

Here is the recipe:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz. package cream cheese
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can of pie filling (cherry, blueberry...)
1 graham cracker crumb pie crust or Nilla Wafers

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk. Stir in lemon juice. Pour into pie crust. Refrigerate until firm and then add pie filling on top if desired. Can use fresh fruit(strawberries, blueberries are best) for garnish as well.

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12 comments:

Allison said...

What a great idea! That would be perfect to make for a summer party or potluck so everyone could just grab their own. Love it! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Oh yum, yum, yum! I will take cheesecake any way I can get it : ). This sounds like such a quick, simple way to do it! I love it : ). I am sure the couple loved it too. I love that you could hold the new baby! Was the sweetness overwhelming? I just love new babies : ).

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

I love no bake cheesecakes but have never thought to put the Nilla wafer in the bottom. Brilliant. That is such a yummy time saver. Thanks for joining in at Tasty Tuesday.:)

One Mom said...

I love the idea of mini cheesecakes. What a great treat to bring new parents or neighbors!

Michelle said...

LOVE this! what a wonderful idea to use nilla wafers!

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

Who doesn't love cheesecake?! Yum! They are adorable!

Rachel said...

Wow--what a simple and yummy idea! Thanks so much for sharing! This is a perfect recipe for my MOPS group to use at one of our fund raisers, too.

Sara said...

I do that too, except with Oreos! Yum!!!

Falling Around said...

Very clever. I never would have thought to use Nilla wafers... awesome!

ToyLady said...

How clever! I love that idea - I'll bet they'd keep well in the freezer, too, to have on hand for, well, no reason, I guess, except just to have on hand!

Thanks for the great idea!

Nicole Feliciano said...

Perfect for parties. If you want, I have just posted a recipe link on Momtrends. You can post a favorite here:

http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/05/friday-feasts.html

SoggyToad said...

I just made the regular version of this.... I'll have to try the mini ones now too! Thanks for sharing :)