Individual Cheesecakes

Every spring my church hosts a special "ladies tea". It's always so much fun. We use fine china, eat lots and lots of great food, fellowship with wonderful women and drink lots of tea, of course.

This is one of my favorite events to cook/bake for because it gives me the chance to be a little creative and fancy. This year I decided to make individual cheesecakes and they were sooo good. Everyone loved them and they looked super cute.

Individual Cheesecakes
(adapted from JoyofBaking.com)

Makes 12 individual cheesecakes

For the crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 T granulated sugar
4 T unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese, at room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat-free)

2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream (full fat)

Garnish (optional):

Fresh berries, strawberry, blueberry or raspberry sauce, and/or melted dark chocolate drizzled over the top.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a muffin pan with two paper liners in each cup (to hold the weight of the cheesecake).

For the crust: In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Mix well.

Spoon 1 Tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup, pressing the crumbs firmly (I used my 1 T cookie scoop so each cup had the same amount).

Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For the filling:  In the bowl of an electric mixer (or hand mixer), beat the cream cheese on low speed until smooth. Add the sugar and mix well. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs, mixing well after each. Then add the vanilla and sour cream and mix well.

Remove the muffin cups from the fridge and carefully divide the cheesecake mixture among each cup (I used my ice cream scoop so they would all be the same size).

Bake for about 18-22 minutes or until firm, but the centers of the cakes still wobble a little. The cakes may not look completely cooked, but they are. Remove and let cool on a wire rack (don't take the cakes out of pan).

Cover the cakes with nonstick foil, still in the pan, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. I HIGHLY recommend refrigerating overnight.

Carefully remove the cheesecakes from the pan, still in the paper liners. Garnish if desired and then store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Enjoy!