Miniature Cheesecakes

It's 5:25 p.m. I have 4 dozen miniature cheesecakes completely done and 1 dozen more that I just put in the oven. They will bake 20 minutes, then I will cool them on a rack for 5 minutes, dollop them with a topping and stick back in the oven for 5 minutes. If my math is right, they will be done just shy of 6:oo p.m. which is a good thing because I am going to a party at Angie's house tonight at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully I will figure out how to package these cookies so I can give them to my girlfriends at the party tonight.

Now, what I'm about to tell you will shock you...these little cheesecakes took me all day! In all fairness, I shouldn't say all day. I started at 11:00 a.m. Once I made the dough for the crusts, I was supposed to chill for 3 hours. I stuck it in the fridge and moved on to mixing the batter for the filling and topping. It was noon at this point so off I went to do some housework. After about 30 minutes of housework, I got bored and decided to get started on the cookies. I only grabbed a handful of dough out of the refrigerator so that the rest could chill as long as possible. I called Danielle G. and she talked me through how to use the wooden dowel to pat down the pie crust in the mini tins. It took me a while to get the first tray done. I found that the dough started to stick when it warmed up. So, I put some of it back in the fridge to chill and grabbed another handful of chilled. Finally I got them filled and in the oven. They came out perfectly beautiful and delicious.

The process did not speed up any with my new found experience so when Angie called at 2:30 p.m. I told her that I couldn't come to her party tonight because I would still be baking these cookies. She thought I was kidding!

I've had a lot of time to think today and I was thinking that if I had another mini muffin tin the process would have been a little faster. However, as it stands now, it would have to be a very special occasion for me to undertake this recipe again. Especially since I baked the much quicker, easier cheesecake cookies last week that were just as tasty and all the ingredients went into one pan!

Sharon, I have had so much fun baking all of your recipes and have found quite a few that I will definitely make again. So far this process has taught me that baking really isn't that difficult. I was also surprised that there were very few ingredients that I had to purchase because most of the time I had everything on hand. Theresa, I am looking forward to making your recipe on Tuesday!

shelly