Liza's Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

I just LOVE anything miniature!!!  It makes my happy.  It makes me smile.  It gives me a warm feeling inside.  "Mini" anything is delightful to me....and these mini cheesecakes are soooo yummy.  You can simply pop them right in your mouth and instantly be over come with a big ole warm and happy smile. :-)

My dear friend Liza passed this recipe onto me just after Jolie was born.  She and my sister (yes, Colline actually baked!!!) made a whole bunch of these little cuties for my Baby Shower - a precious precious day that I will never forget (love you ALL who worked so hard and with so much love to put on that Shower for me).  That being said I pass this recipe onto all of you  in hopes that you can make and share this recipe with those that you care about and wish to give a happy (and yummy) memory to.  In other words I am "paying it forward" by passing on this recipe....may you do the same.

Liza's Mini Cheese Cakes

(a version of this recipe can also be found at allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

1 box of vanilla wafers (warning...you won't need the whole box for this recipe to plan on indulging in a couple as you make this recipe)

2 (8oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract (I adore almond flavor paired with cherries....but feel free to omit this flavoring if you wish)

1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with miniature paper liners (I used the regular size muffin tins for the mini liners didn't fit very well in my mini muffin pan for some reason....this worked out just fine).

2. Place a whole vanilla wafer inside each paper liner.  As you see in the picture below.

3. In a mixing bowl  beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time until they are well combined.  Add in extracts. 

4. Fill in each muffin liner almost to the top with the cream cheese mixture.  I used a medium size scoop (from Pampered Chef) that worked great for this purpose.  It took about 1 1/2 scoops to fill up each liner.

5. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.  Top with a 2-3 cherries of the cherry pie filling.

Enjoy!

Happy Mini Cherry Cheesecake Baking!

~avril :-)

**This post has been linked to Mommy's Kitchen for "Pot Luck Sunday"