Baking my way out of a funk

For some reason, the second Red Velvet cake I made for last weeks' Daring Baker's challenge put me in a funk.

Actually, I know the reason - disappointment.

I have such high expectations of my grandmother's recipes that having one be a dud was crushing! (The fact that both my little boys liked it did not help me at all. It was a dud.)

I had such a need to make something that I wouldn't be disappointed in, but didn't know where to start. The piles of cookbooks I have, all those wonderful blogs and websites, and my funk was such that I just couldn't figure out what I wanted.

Peabody actually helped - with all those cheesecake food porn, all those blogs with recipes, what else could I possibly make but cheesecake? But which one?!?!

As much as I wanted to make the winning entry, from Helene, a fellow Daring Baker, the funk was no fun. (And I wanted to make it before she won!) I wanted cheesecake. I wanted caramel flavor, I wanted lightness. I didn't want to follow a recipe.

So I did something I never do when it comes to baking - I made one up! (That way I had no one but myself to blame if it didn't work?)

I wrote everything carefully down when I did this. So of course now I can't find where I put the notes I made. So if you try this and it doesn't work, I may be misremembering things and I'm very sorry!


Mini Cheesecakes


Base

2 cups crushed up graham crackers
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter, unsalted
pinch salt


Cheesecakes

2 250g packages light cream cheese, softened
2 250g packages regular cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line muffin pans with paper. This will make 18-24 (exact unnumber because I only used 1 muffin pan then made the rest in some corningware I had on hand.)
Mix base ingredients together well. Scoop 1 tablespoon of mix into the bottom of each muffin cup. Using a small glass or a measuring cup bottom, press base down until it covers the bottom of the muffin cup and is fairly compact. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until firm and golden. Allow to cool slightly before filling.
While bottoms cool, mix all the cream cheese together in the bowl of a stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, until fluffy. Mix in both sugars with cream cheese and continue to beat until well combined. Add in eggs, one at a time. When well mixed, add in pinch of salt and the sour cream. Try not to over mix, however you want a smooth batter.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, about 2/3 full.
Bake at 350F for 20-23 minutes. Allow to cool before chilling for a few hours.


I had planned to make a caramel sauce with these but didn't have the patience. Or the need, as it turns out. They were creamy, a touch of tang, but mostly a slight caramel like hint from the brown sugar in both the base and the filling.

My children inhaled them, where they could get past me, as they were exactly what I needed!