RECIPE: Mini Cheesecakes

The other day I had to make dessert for the football team dinner. This is a tradition at Morrill High School that I really like. The night before each game, the football mothers prepare a meal and serve it to the team. The parents all take turns, for example one week the Senior and Junior mothers will do it and then the next week the Sophomore and Freshman mothers do it. I think it's a great idea and enjoy being a part of it. The team gets to eat together and fellowship while the mothers get to spend some time visiting and getting to know each other.

Mighty Morrill Lions during a timeout with coach Libsack.
Skyler is in there somewhere!

I love making desserts! I also love eating dessert. Do you know the trick that helps you remember how to spell dessert? I use to always have to think twice as to whether dessert had one or two "s". Then one of my teachers explained it to me in my language. She said you can always tell the difference between desert (the dry landscape) and dessert (the last course of a meal, never to be missed) was that dessert (the sweet stuff, my kind of stuff) had two "s" because you always want to have two servings of it! I don't think I have ever misspelled that word since.

Anyway, so for the football dinner dessert I made Mini Cheesecakes and Cheesecake Brownies. Here's the recipes for ya!

Mini Cheesecakes topped with
cherries and chocolate almond cream cheese frosting!

Mini Cheesecakes

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
3 (8 oz. pkgs.) cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs (farm fresh, of course)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cherry pie filling

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter; press equal portions into bottoms of 24 paper-lined muffin cups.
2. In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Spoon equal amounts of mixture into prepared cups. Bake 20 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool.
3. Spoon cherry pie filling on top. Chill.


The day before I made these, I had made my niece a birthday cake in which I frosted with chocolate almond cream cheese frosting. I had some leftover frosting and used that on the cheesecakes along with the cherries, so I had two different kinds.

For the Cheesecake Brownies I made a batch of brownies from a box mix. I think it was Duncan Hines. I had leftover cheesecake filling from the mini cheesecakes so after I mixed up the brownies, as per the instructions on the box, I added spoonfuls of the cheesecake filling on top of the brownies and lightly swirled the filling into the brownie mix with a knife. Then I baked it as the directions instructed on the box. So easy and yummy!! I also made a batch of "plain" brownies which I drizzled cream cheese frosting on.

Treat your family or yourself to some of these goodies this week!
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