Mini cheesecakes with orange zest

Yesterday night I was in cooking spree. Baked mini cheesecakes, strawberry cupcakes, brown rice pilaf with mixed vegetables. Usually I bake cheesecake in regular springform pan. This time decided to bake mini ones, so that it is simple to eat rather than messing up the whole cake while cutting ;). These mini cheesecakes looks elegant and tastes delicious.




Ingredients:

Filling:

1 lb Cream cheese
2 large eggs ( I use organic brown eggs)
3/4 cup sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp orange zest
1/2 cup sour cream

Crust

16 graham crackers
6tbsp melted butter
1tbsp sugar

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 300 degree F

Crust:

Place muffin cups in the pan.
Crush graham crackers and sugar in a mixer . (You can crush the crackers even with hand. ) I use mixer since it is easy and makes fine crust. Now add melted butter to the cracker mixture and mix well with a spoon/spatula. Now take the mixture and pour evenly into the muffin cups. With your hands press the mixture into the bottom of the cups. Cover the pan and chill it in refrigerator.



Filling:

In a bowl add cream cheese, sugar and beat with hand mixer or stand mixer until light and fluffy. (I used 3 speed in my hand mixer). Reduce the speed and add eggs one at a time. Add sour cream, vanilla extract and orange zest while beating on low speed. Scrape the mixture using spatula as necessary. Pour the mixture into the prepared muffin cups evenly.
Note: Make sure you use the mixer on low speed.



Bake for 18-20mts till it is firm. When you look at the cake it will not be completely set in the center. Don't worry, that is how it is supposed to look like.
Remove from oven and let it sit for 1hr until cooled completely. Cover it and refrigerate overnight.



Serve with fresh fruit or drizzle with chocolate syrup. I am sure you cannot resist with one.
Makes 12 mini cakes.