Love for Food

A few weeks ago my friend sent me a G-chat asking me if I finished deciding what to make for the holidays. I had already made a few batches of fudge but asked what he had in mind. He sent me a link for Cheesecake Cookie Cups. As someone who never cooks or bakes, he wanted me to make them so he could try them. The recipe can be found here, on the Glad website. I needed something to bring to my work holiday party so I decided to try it. I described what I was making to one of my friends and she said, "Oh mini-cheesecake". Duh! That is exactly what these are. They are mini cheesecakes using a cookie as the crust.
I used sugar cookie dough instead of the chocolate chip suggested since many reviews said they was too sweet. I never used pre-made dough but I was way too lazy to make my own. (It's also finals week, after all.) At first I was a bit concerned that the square blocks would turn out to round cookies; but they did! I also HATE cherry. Yet, I still followed the recipe as is. The result was great. The cherry adds a tiny bit of sour to a very sweet cheesecake. The sugar cookie made a nice chewy crust. The cheesecake was a bit denser than the traditional. The taste was very good. I realized this right away when I had to rinse out the bowl of mixture because I kept licking it! I didn't think it was too sweet as reviews had said. It was however, definitely not for the figure friendly. It was a bit heavy in the yummy, rich, sorta way.
These are fun for parties or potlucks because they look pretty and are already in individual servings. Since they are very decadent, on my next go I'm thinking of doing minis. A bit more work but also a bit better for the diet :) You can play around with these cheesecakes and put different cookies for the crust or use different toppings. Some people have used chocolate or whip cream instead. I think the red cherry makes for a pretty topping for the holidays.
**Make sure you use metal muffin tins. I used 1/3 metal, 1/3 silicon, 1/3 nothing (ran out). I used three different methods because I did not have the capacity for 24 muffins using one system. I found that the ones not cooked in the metal did not come out at all. The cookie part crust was soggy!!! I freaked out for a few minutes, until I realized that it did not happen with the metal pan. Since I had a lot of extra ingredients around for holiday baking I re-did and only used the metal pan**

Ingredients: Serves 24 (muffin sized)
1 pkg. (16.5 oz.) Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Bar Dough
2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, room temperature
1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
Method:

• Preheat oven to 325° F.
• Paper-line 24 muffin cups.
• Place one piece of cookie dough in each muffin cup.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookie has spread to edge of cup.
• Beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs and vanilla extract in medium bowl until smooth.
• Pour about 3 tablespoons cream cheese mixture over each cookie in cup.
• Bake for additional 15 to 18 minutes or until set.
• Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
• Top each with level tablespoon of pie filling and refrigerate for 1 hour.