I mentioned on social media the other day that I was going to start sharing recipes from my Mam’s handwritten cookbook that she left me. I decided to start with our favorite- dessert. We used to make cheesecakes together often, so I thought I’d share this recipe for her Cherry Cheese Tarts. Mini- Cheesecake Cupcakes that would make a perfect summer treat. Kids and adults will both enjoy these portable desserts that are fluffy, light, and sweet.
Opening up her recipe book and reading her handwriting feels like she’s right here with me. It’s like I spent an afternoon baking with her again, like I did once a week my entire childhood. I’m so thankful to have this cherished treasure and a lifetime of great memories.
This recipe is a simple one- easily made for an impromptu get together. It’s sweet and delicious, and a crowd pleaser. Who doesn’t love cheesecake?
Before you do anything, set out 2 bricks of cream cheese to soften. It has to be nice and soft to make a fluffy and creamy cheesecake.
Fill a muffin pan with liners, and put a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each one. Perfect for tiny toddler hands to help with.
All of the other ingredients are super simple, you probably have them at your house already. Once your cream cheese is softened, you’re going to mix it up with with eggs, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice.
And this isn’t in the original recipe, but go ahead and zest some lemon in there too. It adds a nice, fresh zing to your cheesecakes.
Then fill the cups, I used about 2 heaping Tbsps per each muffin cup. They’ll puff up a bit in the oven, so don’t overfill them too much. Then put them in the oven. The original recipe called for 10-20 minutes, but mine took 30. And that seemed like the perfect amount of time for this size of cheesecake.
Once you take them out of the oven, the middle will fall slightly which is perfect for adding your filling. Let them cool COMPLETELY, and then fill them with your cherry pie filling.
I found that 3 cherries and some of the filling was the perfect amount for each cup. I went ahead and zested a little more lemon on top, because I can- but you don’t have to. The whole purpose is that this is simple and tasty.
They make a beautiful dessert for parties and get togethers, and the great thing is you can use any kind of pie filling for these. I’m definitely trying blueberry next.
The canned pie filling can be a little sweet, so if you’re feeling ambitious you can make your own. But again, keeping it simple.
I hope you love this recipe brought to you from my Mam’s recipe stash- and let me know if you’d like to see more!
RECIPE:
Cherry Cheese Tarts
-2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese
-3/4 cups sugar
-2 eggs
-1 Tbsp lemon juice (I added more)
-2 tsp vanilla
-1 can cherry pie filling
-1 box vanilla wafer cookies
Preheat oven to 350. Put one vanilla wafer in the bottom of each muffin cup. Mix together everything except the pie filling. Fill each cup with the filling. Bake 30 minutes. (Start checking after 10, depending on your oven.) Cool completely. Top each tart with cherry pie filling. Makes 16-18 tarts.
