Mini Cheesecake Tarts

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Whenever we do family dinners at my house, I always volunteer to make dessert (unsurprisingly).  However, I also live with a couple of health nuts, so my sweets usually go untouched unless I bring them to work or club meetings.  Last weekend, I attempted to make something sweet and healthy.  Although I found several nutritious sorbet recipes, these mini cheesecake tarts really spoke to me.  

Mini Cheesecake Tarts | Bonjour Miss Mary

 

If you slap fruit on top, it’s healthy, right?  

Mini Cheesecake Tarts | Bonjour Miss Mary

Luckily, these petite desserts were a hit and can easily be made in under an hour. My favorite part about the recipe was making the shortbread “cups”. All you have to do is fill the bottoms of an entire standard size muffin tin and bake them for about 10 minutes. Once baked, slightly indent each muffin tin using the back of a tablespoon, carefully creating a shortbread vessel for a filling of your choice. The original recipe called for a lemon curd-based cream. I ended up making a simple cheesecake filling since it only calls for 3 ingredients that can be easily found in most kitchens.

Mini Cheesecake Tarts
Serves 6
Difficulty: 4/10
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Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
12 min
Total Time
42 min
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
12 min
Total Time
42 min
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
  1. Muffin tin
FIELD NOTES
  1. If you do not have piping bags or decorating tips, spoon the cheesecake filling into a sandwich bag with a corner cut off.
INGREDIENTS
  1. For shortbread crust...
  2. 1 cup butter, softened
  3. 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  4. 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  5. 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  6. For cheesecake filling...
  7. 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  8. 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
  9. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  10. various berries for garnish (strawberries, blueberries, pomegranates)
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
  2. Using your hands, mix butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and flour together in a large bowl
  3. Chill mixture for 10 minutes
  4. Place 1-1 1/2" balls of batter into greased muffin tin, making sure to form the dough to cover the bottom of each space
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, but start keeping an eye on shortbread after about 9 minutes
  6. Once slightly golden brown, remove from oven and use tablespoon to create bowl indentations in each shortbread and let cool completely
  7. In a separate bowl, mix softened cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric stand mixer for 2 minutes
  8. Spoon filing into piping bag and pipe into cooled shortbread shells
  9. Optional: garnish with fruit
Adapted from Home Cooking in Montana
Adapted from Home Cooking in Montana
Bonjour Miss Mary http://www.bonjourmissmary.com/

Chocolate-Kissed Waffle Fish

waffle fish

I am currently in my last semester of law school and I am very ready to graduate get my life back.  In an attempt to manage my “senioritis” during my last year, I enrolled in a few condensed classes.  This means that instead of drudging to class every night of the week for 2-3 hours, I am in a classroom for 44 hours spanned across 6 days.  So I woke up extra early this Saturday to make some brain food for the grueling day ahead.

I came up with the idea to make “waffle fish” by pouring the waffle batter to only partially fill the waffle iron, making the disconnected waffle gridlines emulate the tails and fins of fish.  Adding colorful sprinkles to the chocolate-splashed edges make this these waffles look like school of tropical angel fish.  If you want to add eyes to your fish, grab some here.

Chocolate-Kissed Waffle Fish | Bonjour Miss Mary

 

Chocolate-Kissed Waffle Fish
Serves 4
Difficulty: 2/10
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
25 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
25 min
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
  1. Waffle iron
  2. Double boiler (optional)
FIELD NOTES
  1. Try adding 2 tablespoons flax seeds (with an accompanying 3 tablespoons water) as a healthy alternative
INGREDIENTS
  1. 1 cup + 1 tablespoon organic buckwheat flour
  2. 1 tablespoon honey
  3. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  4. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  5. 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  6. 1 cup almond milk
  7. 7 ounces dark chocolate dipping chocolate wafers (I used Baker's Dipping Chocolate)
  8. (optional, sprinkles)
DIRECTIONS
  1. Stir all ingredients together only until lumps disappear.
  2. Spray waffle iron with Pam Cooking Spray.
  3. Cook according to waffle maker's instructions.
  4. After waffles are cooked, begin melting chocolate either by microwave (stirring every 30 seconds) or double boiler (melt chocolate by stirring 5-10 minutes)
  5. Dip corners or edges of waffles in chocolate
  6. Optional: add sprinkles and candy eyes if desired before chocolate hardens
Adapted from Arrowhead Mills
Adapted from Arrowhead Mills
Bonjour Miss Mary http://www.bonjourmissmary.com/

Dutch Baby With Orange Zest Sugar

Dutch Baby Slice

After a busy and stressful week at work and school, I was extremely happy once the weekend approached.  My schedule rarely allows for the consumption of a balanced breakfast…I usually bop the snooze button a couple of times before rushing out the door with a cup of coffee and a granola bar.  Being the weekend warrior that I am, I decided to eat breakfast for every meal that Saturday.  Simply stated: it was great and I highly recommend it!  Most of my favorite foods can be found at the breakfast table (waffles, donuts, omelettes, etc…), so it was pure bliss for me, and an effective way to decompress.  The smells from the sweet and savory foods served as aromatherapy, leaving me charged and ready to tackle homework between meals.  

Also, a long-standing item on my project list was to finally use the cast iron skillet we bought late last year.  Sure, you can use it to cook bacon, but that’s too boring.  After scouring Pinterest for ideas, I came across some Dutch Baby pancake recipes…Jackpot!  A Dutch Baby is pancake with some German origins that is usually baked in a cast iron skillet or metal pan.  Typically, the pancake rises in the oven and collapses on itself once removed from the heat.  Today, it is a popular brunch and dessert item. 

Dutch Baby With Orange Zest Sugar | Bonjour Miss Mary

Feeling a little guilty about the sugary cereals I had been chowing down on as mid-day snacks, I decided to try to add as many healthy twists to this recipe as possible.  So, I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and almond milk instead of 2% milk.  This definately changed the consistency of the pancake from light and fluffy to thin and slightly dense.  Nevertheless, the result was delicious, and ever the slightest, nutritious (sans the pile of citrus sugar I poured on top).  

 

Dutch Baby with Orange Zest Sugar
Serves 4
Difficulty: 2.5/10
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
23 min
Total Time
33 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
23 min
Total Time
33 min
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
  1. 1 10 1/2 -inch cast iron skillet
FIELD NOTES
  1. -If you want a fluffier Dutch Baby, make sure to swap out the almond milk for 2%.
  2. -The original recipe called for 6 tablespoons of butter to prep the pan for baking. I found this to be way too much and reduced to 4 tablespoons (which was still very generous).
INGREDIENTS
  1. 1/3 cup sugar
  2. 1 orange
  3. 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  4. 2/3 cup almond milk
  5. 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
  6. 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  7. 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  8. 1/8 teaspoon ground all spice
  9. 1/8 teaspoon salt
  10. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
DIRECTIONS
  1. Use a cheese grater to remove all the zest from your orange. Combine the orange zest with 1/3 cup sugar, gently mixing the two together with a spoon. The zest and sugar should begin to form small clump together. Set aside.
  2. Put your iron skillet on the middle rack of your oven and preheat to 450F.
  3. Using a mixer, beat 3 eggs at high speed until pale and frothy. Then beat in almond milk, whole wheat flour, vanilla, cinnamon, all spice, and salt and continue to beat until smooth (about 1 minute). The batter should be thin.
  4. Take your preheated skillet out of the oven and add the butter, swirling the pan to melt the butter and coat the pan. Once the bottom of the pan is covered in butter, pour the Dutch Baby pancake batter into it and immediately return the skillet to the oven.
  5. Bake until puffed and golden-brown, for 17-23 minutes.
  6. Once the Dutch Baby is out of the oven, sprinkle the orange zest sugar on top. Serve immediately.
Adapted from Hummingbird High
Adapted from Hummingbird High
Bonjour Miss Mary http://www.bonjourmissmary.com/