Individual Cheesecake desserts

My son works in a grocery store and he brought home these super cute jelly jars for me, what an awesome fella!

Aside from using them to can jellies, I thought they would be perfect to use for individual desserts! So I filled them with a vanilla wafer crushed in the bottom for a crust, and an easy creamy cheesecake filling:

Then I topped them with a luscious blackberry syrup:

Creamy Cheesecake filling:
1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 - 8 oz. tub whipped topping
1 tsp. vanilla or 1 tsp. lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
Beat the cream cheese until smooth, add the sugar and mix until combined. Add the vanilla or lemon juice. On low speed, add the whipped topping and beat only until combined.

Blackberry syrup
1 pint container of blackberries
1 cup sugar
2 TBS water
Add all to a saucepan and heat over medium until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir frequently. Let cool completely before spooning over the cheesecake mixture.

To make individual desserts:
Crumble 1 or 2 vanilla wafer cookies in the bottom of the jar, use an ice cream scoop to spoon in the cheesecake filling and top with the cooled blackberry syrup. Chill at least one hour before serving. Enjoy!

Cherry Crisp

Finish up your meal with an easy and oh so yummy cherry crisp, you'll love it! This recipe also has the crispy topping on the bottom for double crispylishusness (that's a word...it is)!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup (10 2/3 tablespoons) margarine, cold cut into small pieces
1 can cherry pie filling
Cool whip or ice cream, optional

Combine the flour, brown sugar, oatmeal, baking soda and salt until completely mixed.
Add the cold cut up margarine and mix with a pastry blender, or two knives, until incorporated.

This is about half of the mixture, just to show what it should look like when mixed:

 

 

Sprinkle half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish pressing into the bottom until covered, reserving the remaining mixture to top.

Spread the can of cherry pie filling to cover the crust.

Cover the cherries with the remaining mixture, bake in a 350° oven for 40 minutes.

Out of the oven...

 

Ready for my tummy...

 



 
 



Strawberry Mousse Filled Cupcakes

 

Strawberry Mousse Filled Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
Follow the directions on the mix and bake in cupcake lined muffin tins. Let cool.

Filling
4 oz. cream cheese
3 TBS seedless strawberry jam
4 oz. whipped topping, thawed (I used 1/2 of an 8 oz tub)
Beat cream cheese and jam until completely blended. Add whipped topping and blend lightly until combined and fluffy.

When your cupcakes are cooled using an apple corer, or handle of wooden spoon, poke holes in the center of the cupcakes to fill.

Spoon your filling into a pastry bag, or I use a ziploc sandwich bag...easy clean-up, plus I'm lazy like that and that's how I roll. Clip the end off one corner if you are using a baggie.

Begin piping your filling into the centers of your cupcakes.

Once all filled, top with the remaining whipped topping.

I topped mine with some strawberries, you can also substitute the strawberry jam with seedless raspberry or any flavor you like!