Mini Lemon Cheesecake

I wanted to make cheesecake from leftover mascarpone cheese from the DB tiramisu challenge but unfortunately left it too long. So here's a traditional mini cream cheese cheesecake instead. I looked at a few recipes online and in my books and basically took inspiration from each recipe to come up with my own version. I was a little worried as I cut the amount of sugar drastically and added lemon juice but it turned out fine. I love the mini portions - don't they look cute?

Tip from joyofbaking.com - line a muffin tin with a long strip of parchment paper as pictured so that the cakes can be easily removed and it worked beautifully.

Crush digestive biscuits and mix with melted butter and sugar. Press 1-2 tablespoons of crumbs to create a base for the cheesecake.  Fresh from the oven

Top with raspberries or topping of your choiceEnjoy :)

Ingredients (rough approximations as shock horror I did not measure this time!)

For the base

200g digestive biscuits

~ 100g butter (melted)

1/2 tablespoon sugar

For the filling

~400g cream cheese

~50g sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Juice of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 lemon

Garnish (optional)

Raspberries (or other fresh berries)

Blueberry puree

• Preheat oven to 160C
• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with long strips of parchment paper (see picture)
• Make the crust by crushing the biscuits and mixing with melted butter and sugar.
• Press 1-2 tablespoons of crumbs on the bottoms of the muffin cups to create a base. 
• Cover and refrigerate whilst making the filling.
• Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and then the eggs, one at a time. 
• Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice and zest and mix thoroughly.
• Remove the crusts from the fridge and evenly divide the filling among the 12 muffin cups. 
• Bake for about 18-20 minutes until firm but the centres still wobble a little.
• Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack.
• Remove cheesecakes by running a sharp knife around the inside edge of the muffin cups to loosen the cheesecake. 
• Then, taking hold of the two strips of parchment paper, carefully lift each cheesecake from the muffin cups. 
• Gently peel off parchment paper.
• Top with garnish of your choice and serve.