Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

I make this a lot in the summer whenever the strawberries are looking all so luscious. This is a bit time consuming, but worth it if you like cheesecakes. It's a great because they make little individual cheesecakes, so you don't have to pull out a big cake and feel guilty about the huge slice that you just cut yourself. If you ended up eating multiple servings of this dessert, don't worry! I won't judge :)

Mini Strawberry Swirl Cheesecakes adapted from Spago Desserts by Mary Bergin & Judy Gethers

makes 12 servings

Equipment needed: Twelve 1-cup ramekins

Baking pan with sides, large enough to hold the ramekins (you can use two pans if needed)

Strawberry Compote Ingredients

Three 1-pint baskets of strawberries, hulled and cut into thick slices

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 stick cinnamon sticks

In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine berries, sugar and cinnamon sticks. Cook over medium-high heat until compote thickens slightly and just coats the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Cool. (You can do this before and leave in the fridge overnight)

Cheesecake Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs cream cheese (3 pkgs), at room temp, cut into small pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 teas salt

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tbs dark rum (you can omit this if you don't have it or don't want to use it)

1 tbs lemon juice

2 teas vanilla

3 eggs

Place cream cheese, sugar and salt in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle of beaters, on medium speed, beat until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides and under the beaters with a rubber spatula. Turn the speed to high and continue to beat until nice and cream. Stop the machine, add the sour cream, rum, lemon juice, and vanilla, then on medium speed, continue beating until well blended. Add eggs and beat just until combined.

1) Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat with vegetable spray each of 12 ramekins. Set aside.

2) Spoon strawberry compote into the bottom of each ramekin, then fill with cheesecake batter. Arrange the ramekins in a large baking pan and fill the baking pan with hot water, reaching about halfway up the sides of the ramekins (you don't want any more or the water will end up in your cheesecake!). Bake until the cheesecake begins to pull away from the ramekins and are almost firm to the touch, 35 to 40 minutes.

3) Remove ramekins to rack and let cool. Refrigerate, covered, overnight.

4) When ready to serve, run a sharp knife around the inside edges of each ramekin and invert the cake onto a serving plate. The compote will run down the sides of each cake.