Jam Topped Mini Cheesecakes

These are great little finger foods from Taste of Home magazine.  They don’t make a ton, so if you’re trying to lose weight you don’t have a massive cheesecake hanging out in your fridge.  Still dangerous, but better.  Kind of.

Grab your muffin tin, put some paper liners in a dozen of them and play along now.

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup graham cracker crumbs and 1 tablespoon butter.  Press gently onto bottom of 12 paper lined muffin cups.  The worst part of this is getting roughly the same amount in each of the liners.

In another bowl, beat together 1 package (8 oz) of softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth. Add a slightly beaten egg and beat with your mixer on low until just combined.

Spoon over crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-16 minutes or until centers are set.

Cool for about 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin.  Place on wire rack to cool.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Remove paper liners and top each with 1 teaspoon of jam.

Because there’s a lot of crust and not a ton of cheesecake I find these easy to pick up and eat.  Plus if you put the jam on them then put them in the fridge for a bit you’ll find it isn’t as likely to run off the top.  That’s probably a preference thing, but since I was using homemade jam it was already a little runny to start with.  So what do you think of these?

At the time of writing this, the magazine I got it from was still on sale.  It’s the Taste of Home Five Star Desserts magazine.  I know they’re a little pricey, but this is worth it.  There’s a ton of great recipes in there that I just can’t wait to try.

Cinnamon Pear Jam

I was recently in St. Stephen, New Brunswick and just outside the town (technically in Oak Bay) there’s a little place called Troy’s Country Market.  They have a little takeout that sells burgers and the like, plus a little market where you can purchase farm fresh fruits and veggies, blueberry wine, jams and other such goodies.  I think it’s part of Tuddenham Farms because that’s where the blueberries and wine are from, plus other things I’m sure.  Anyway, I picked up a bottle of Cinnamon Pear Jam, opened it in the car and then immediately went back and got a second jar.  I wish I’d bought more, because I’m almost through the first bottle.

The cinnamon taste isn’t overpowering at all, but you can certainly tell it’s there.  My brain didn’t jump immediately to pear flavor either.  It almost felt like apple, but if you really stop and taste it you’ll know it’s pear.  Although it’s jam, the “chunks” are far and few between.  It’s more like jelly that way, but the consistency is running enough to be jam.  Soooo good!

In case you can’t read the phone number on the jar, it’s (506) 466-1840.  If you’re in the area, Troy’s is certainly worth a stop!