Balaton Cherry Cheesecakes- Gluten Free
Balaton Cherry Cheesecakes- Gluten Free
I was having some friends over recently and wanted a gluten free dessert. I was also lucky enough to have recently received some frozen cherries from King Orchards in Michigan.* Inspiration struck and I ended up making these mini cherry 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. The cherries are a variety called Balaton with Hungarian origins. While they are considered a tart cherry they are darker than most tart cherries and have a sweetness to them that I just love. I used 2 cups of frozen cherries-I like a lot of cherries on my cheesecake- but I only used 2 tablespoons of sugar to sweeten them. The recipe made a dozen. Here is what I did.
Balaton Cherry Mini 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
Balaton Cherry Topping:
2 c. Balaton cherries- or other frozen tart cherries- thawed
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 defrosted cherries into a small saucepan. You should have about half a cup. 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.
*http://kingorchards.com/
