Cheesecakes for one – creamy vanilla with the tang of cream cheese. Top it with some favorite jam and Wow, this makes for a delicious, elegant dessert.

Out in the Alaska bush, I don’t usually stock cream cheese in my pantry. But during a recent visit to a neighboring village I happened across a two-pound block at the store. It doesn’t freeze very well, which makes for a perfect excuse to immediately create lots of baked items with this delicious ingredient. I’ve made these lovely little cheesecakes before using matcha green tea as the flavoring. This recipe is a perfect base in which to add in a variety of flavors. For this batch, I wanted to showcase my raspberry freezer jam, so I created a complementary vanilla-flavored cake.

Diminutive Vanilla Cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling

• 1 package of cream cheese, 250 grams, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line 8 standard-sized muffin tin cups with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together crust ingredients.
3. Evenly divide crust mixture into lined muffin tin cups. Press down to form bottom of cheesecakes.
4. Bake crusts for 5 minutes. Let cool.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together filling ingredients. There should be no lumps and all ingredients should be mixed well.
6. Divide filling evenly into paper lined cups.
7. Bake cheesecakes until set, about 16 – 18 minutes. Centers should not jiggle.
8. Refrigerate cheesecakes for 3 hours before serving.