Mini Cherry Cheesecakes - Cake Odyssey Bonus

My daughter's teacher recently celebrated a birthday and I had Jenna engage in a bit of detective work to find out said teacher's favorite dessert.  I didn't want to bring in cupcakes if that's not her thing.  I mean, honestly, how many cupcakes do you think teachers have plopped on their desks during a typical school year?!

When Jenna came home with the news that cheesecake was the dessert-of-choice, I knew exactly what I was going to make.  Being sensitive to the fact that some kids might not like cheesecake and the fact that her teacher is engaged and planning a wedding (ie...has a wedding dress to fit into!) I knew that mini cheesecakes were the way to go.  A side of chocolate chip cookies for the extremely cheesecake-adverse was also on the menu.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Here's What You Need:

1 12 ounce package Nilla Wafers

2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 can cherry pie filling

Here's What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line miniature muffin tins with miniature paper or foil liners.  Place one Nilla Wafer in the bottom of each mini muffin liner.  In a mixer, cream the sugar, eggs, vanilla and cream cheese.  Fill each muffin liner with the cream cheese mixture, almost to the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Allow to cool at room temperature and then pop them in the fridge.  Prior to serving, spoon a little bit of cherry pie filling on top.

This recipe is adapted from one found on one of my favorite sites, All Recipes and will make anywhere from three to four dozen mini cheesecakes.