Two kinds of Mini-Cheesecakes

I wish that the focus of this post were really the two kinds of cheesecake I made for Mix-N-Munch this weekend, but the truth is, the recipes themselves pale beside the piece of equipment I bought to help me make them.

When I was in high school, my first summer job was working at a Baskin-Robbins. As first jobs went, it wasn't too bad. I didn't have to wear anything undignified, I never had to work on Sunday, and, once a shift, I could have a child-sized scoop of ice cream, the cost of which was not deducted from my paycheck. Also, my right arm (the one I used for scooping) got very toned, which looked slightly odd when compared to my left arm, which was puny by comparison.

The big downside was that, because I was working in food service, I saw things no lover of ice cream should ever have to see. For awhile, I couldn't eat ice cream at all, which, in my mind, was worse than not having elbows. To this day, I have trouble going into a Baskin-Robbins, and I'm pretty sure I would have a lot of trouble eating one of their ice cream cakes. Please don't ask for more details. Trust me, it's for your own good. And mine. I'm not sure who reads this blog, and I probably should watch what I say about people I used to know.

Since that first summer when I worked at BR, I have coveted a KitchenAid mixer. We had one, which we used for whipping non-dairy whipped topping for cakes (not to be confused with the stuff in the aerosol cans that was real whipped cream, which we used for sundaes) as well as for making the frosting for ice cream cakes out of vanilla ice cream. I told myself, as I watched the paddle attachment on the mixer spin round and round that some day, I would own a KitchenAid mixer, and that, when I did, my life would be wonderful. I would no longer be held back by the trappings of a handheld mixer that overheated quickly and had those beaters that never seemed to get clean. I would no longer have to whisk things by hand or knead bread dough.

Years passed. I went to college, then on a mission, and then graduate school. In that time, I lived with over 50 girls in small apartments, earning just enough money to live on, and, often, mixing cookie dough using only one of those bowls shaped like a bedpan (or like the removable bowl that goes under a training potty) and a wooden spoon. This last year, two significant things happened:

• I finally started to have extra income. This is in part because I have two jobs now, and in part because I still basically live like I have since I started college. I still buy generic toilet paper and cereal, and I only run my AC when I go to sleep. If this means that I have turned into a cheapskate, so be it.
• I live alone, which means that all of the cupboards are mine, all fridge space is mine, and all counter space is mine. I can clutter it up with whatever I like.

When I started the cupcake project, I began fantasizing about buying a KitchenAid mixer. However, I have noticed that there are basically two kinds of KitchenAid mixers that are available to me in Lubbock:

• Those sold at Bed Bath and Beyond, which are heavy-duty and extremely pretty, but a little pricey for someone who buys generic toilet paper and cereal.
• Those sold at Target and Wal-Mart, which are within my price range, but have motors that I imagine would be too weak to knead bread dough. The last thing I want for an appliance I will have to drop hundreds of dollars on is for it to conk out like a Sunbeam blender. And I feel like, if I am buying a KitchenAid, it should be able to do bread.

Then, Thursday afternoon, I made a trip to Sam's Club for cream cheese for the cheesecakes, and I spied this:

$269.92, 475-watt motor, and it was red.

Without getting too excited, I left Sam's Club and did some comparison shopping. The Target KitchenAid mixer cost $199.99, and had a 275-watt motor. Weak sauce. Plus, it was only available in white. Can you imagine? They had another model for $250, which was had a 450-watt motor, and a smaller bowl.

I stopped at Bed Bath and Beyond, conscious of the butter and cream cheese I had sitting in my trunk, and took a look at their mixers. They had three models: the Artisan Stand Mixer, which came in many pretty colors, cost $299.99, and had a 325-watt motor; the Professional 5-Plus, which cost $319.99, and had a 450-watt motor; and the Professional 600 series, which cost $399.99, had a 575-watt motor, and held a 6-quart bowl.

The bottom line: the only mixer I could find that had a more powerful motor than the Sam's Club model cost an extra $130. For my purposes, I couldn't imagine it would be worth the extra money. If your local Sam's Club has these in stock, I hope this price comparison has been helpful for you.

So, I went back to Sam's Club and bought the red mixer.

I had to wait two days before I had a chance to use it. I spent Thursday night working on a paper, and Friday night and Saturday morning working at the temple, which is a subject for another post.

Saturday night, I finally fired it up to make cookies and cream mini cheesecakes and raspberry marble mini cheesecakes. I pause to note that, growing up, mini cheesecakes in cupcake tins were one of my mom's specialties. They're quick and easy, and they seem impressive. These cheesecakes are a little more time-consuming, but I think they'll be perfect for mix-and-munch.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

42 Oreos (or other chocolate sandwich cookies), 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped (I used my food processor).

2 lbs. cream cheese, room temperature

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used imitation)

4 large eggs, room temperature, slightly beaten

1 c. sour cream

pinch of salt

First, preheat the oven to 275. Line your standard muffin tins with paper liners. I used aluminum liners because a) I think they look more elegant for cheesecakes, and b) they hold their shape better, which was important when I had to take the cheesecakes out of the tins and put them in the fridge. Place a whole cookie in the bottom of each liner.

With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

Here's a shot of my cream cheese. I bought it at Sam's club in a giant 3 lb. bar.

Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

Divide batter evenly among cookie-filled cups, filling each almost to the top. While the recipe said it would make 30, I got 39 out of my filling, plus an additional 16 mini cupcakes, using Mini-Oreos as the "crust." Bake for 22 minutes, rotating halfway through.

As soon as these were cool enough for me to grab them with my bare hands, I stuck them in the fridge. They are supposed to refrigerate for at least four hours before you serve them. I let mine chill overnight.

Then I started on the second recipe.

Raspberry Marble Cheesecakes

1 1/2 c. finely ground graham crackers (about 12 sheets). I used my food processor again, which meant I had to wash out the bowl.

3 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 c. plus 5 Tbsp. sugar

6 0z. fresh raspberries

2 lbs. cream cheese. For those of you obsessed with this kind of thing, yes, that means four boxes of cream cheese.

pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 325, and line the muffin tins with more cupcake papers.

I ground up the graham crackers in the food processor.

And then I combined them with the melted butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar.

Then, I dropped a tablespoon into each of the cupcake liners, and pressed it down with the back of the spoon.

I was supposed to bake them for five minutes while the crust set. I did not. Oops. As a result, the crust did not hold together when people bit into it. Only one person (within earshot) complained.

I pureed the raspberries in my food processor, and hit a snag when I tried to pour them through my strainer.

The holes in the strainer were too large, and the seeds slipped through, which meant I had to make a trek to Wal-Mart at 11:30 p.m. to buy another strainer.

This one cost me $3.00, and looks exactly like the one my mom had growing up, except that, through time, that one got a little warped and looked kind of like a Smurf hat on the bottom.

Meanwhile, I beat up the cream cheese, added 1 1/2 c. sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt one at a time.

Then I used my brand new triggered ice cream scooper to scoop batter on top of the crusts that I didn't bake. I filled 30 cups.

I used my brand new strainer to strain as much of liquid as I could. I mixed it with 2 Tbsp. of sugar, and dolloped it on the cheesecakes. Using a chopstick, I swirled the raspberry with the cream cheese mixture and slid the pans in the oven for 22 minutes, rotating halfway through.

The verdict:

I think the raspberry marbled ones were a bigger draw. However, I stacked them on top of the cookies and cream ones, and I think some people missed the cookies and cream.

As for the mixer, I am sort of embarrassed to admit that it didn't quite get all the cream cheese blended in with the sugar and eggs. I'm not sure why, but it hasn't made me lose faith in KitchenAid yet.