Mini Cherry Cheesecakes – Gluten -Free
Mini Cherry Cheesecakes- Gluten-free
I needed a gluten free dessert for a friend of mine and I was trying to come up with something seasonal. Saw some beautiful cherries so I bought some and went from there. She really loves cheesecake so I used the cherries as toppers for these mini cheesecakes. The crust is a shortbread type cookie made with gluten free flour. The filling pretty straight forward with a nice splash of lemon juice and vanilla. I used 2 cups of fresh, pitted cherries-she likes a lot of cherries on cheesecake- but I only used 2 tablespoons of sugar to sweeten them. The recipe made a dozen. If you are using tart cherries, you might want to add a little more sugar. Here is what I did.
Mini Cherry Cheesecakes – Gluten Free
Crust:
1/4 c. softened butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. gluten free flour – found in some grocery stores- I got mine at Costco
pinch of salt.
Filling: 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. lemon juice
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
Cherry Topping:
2 c. pitted cherries, including any juice
2 T. sugar, or to your taste
1 t. tapioca starch- you could also use cornstarch
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 muffin pans with paper or foil liners. In mixing bowl combine ingredients for crust by first mixing the butter and sugar together and then stirring in the flour and salt. Divide the dough into 12 portions and roll into balls. Place one ball in each paper lined pan and press to flatten. Bake for 10 minutes. While crust is baking make the filling. Combine cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla and blend until smooth. Stir in the eggs. Spoon the batter into the muffin pans- they will be pretty full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until puffy and set. Cheesecakes will flatten a little when cooled. While the cheesecakes are baking you can make the cherry topping. Pour off any liquid from the cherries into a small saucepan. You should have about a quarter of a cup. Add enough water to make a half a cup of liquid. Add sugar and tapioca starch or cornstarch and heat over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture thickens- it just takes a few minutes. Stir in the cherries and allow mixture to cool down. Once cheesecakes and topping are both cooled down spoon cherries over the cheesecakes and chill until ready to eat. These could be frozen- but you aren’t going to have any left over.
