Martha Challenge #44- Cup-cheesecakes with peach jam

Back to Martha's cupcake challenge, this time with cheesecake cupcakes!Last week I got some free peaches that were almost past their time, so I made a bunch of jam. Now, what was I to do with all this jam? I gave most o it away to friends, but saved just enough to make these cheesecake cupcakes, topped with peach jam.

There are a few deviations to the recipe. First, Martha uses chocolate wafers as the base, but I have never been able to find them, so I used graham crackers. Also, the recipe uses apricot jam, but I used peach. No biggie!

First I made the crust, which is crushed up graham crackers mixed with butter and sugar, and baked in cupcake tins until set.

Next step is to make the filling: 1 pound of cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. It was so smooth and pretty, and then I poured it into the cooled crusts. I had just enough for 17.
Then you bake that at a lower temperature until set. They smelled great! I'm not the biggest fan of cheesecake, but these smelled so good I wanted to eat one!

After they cool for at least 4 hours in the fridge, you top them with the jam. First I heated up the jam, then strained it. I had just enough jam to cover 16 of the cupcakes, so one was left plain.

This was a new challenge for me, and I think it turned out great. I would even leave the cheesecakes plain, they are delicious enough on their own.

I won't be blogging for a while, going on vacation to Germany! Hopefully I can check out a McCafe, where they sell McCupcakes. Not a joke, it's for real! And when I get back, I'll kick off October with a series of German-inspired cupcakes.

Martha Challenge #12- cookies and cream cup-cheesecakes

Cupcake Challenge #12: Oreo Cup-Cheesecakes!


It's been a while sine I've been able to bake, since we moved to Colorado! I finally got (most) of my kitchen stuff unpacked, so I was able to bake today! Today was National Cheesecake Day, and I've never made a cheesecake before, so I decided to tackle the challenge. I decided to make individual cheesecakes, in keeping with the cupcake theme, and Martha of course had the recipe for me.

These are cookies and cream mini cheesecakes, with an entire Oreo as the crust on the bottom.
These did not require a bain marie, which made it easier for me. I had no issues with altitude, since these had no leavening agent in them. They sunk a bit in the middle, which I'm guessing is due to overfilling. I wasn't sure how to tell if they were done. The recipe said to bake for 22 minutes, or until set. I checked them frequently, and they seemed ok at 22 minutes, but I probably could have let them bake a few more minutes. Then they had to cool in the fridge for 4 hours or more. My tast-tester said they were delicious, but maybe not firm enough in consistency. That's also perhaps why they sank. All in all, a good first attempt at cheesecake, and one more recipe down!