Food Friday: Recipe for Petite Cheesecakes

With all the excitement of the Ultimate Blog Party on Friday, I forgot all about Food Friday! But now I will make it up to you!  This recipe was served to us Friday night by a young newlywed wife, who is an excellent and experienced cook!  They had our family over for a Thanksgiving-like dinner with all the trimmings.  We ate turkey, stuffing, special mashed potatoes, homemade rolls--the works! The only thing we contributed was the salad.  It was all so delicious--thank you Brianna and Steven for inviting us!  For dessert, which we put off eating until later, because we were so full from stuffing ourselves, she served Petite Cheesecakes.  My husband, when he tasted them, immediately told me I needed to get this recipe! My husband is not that much of a foodlover, so when something brings out a request like this, I usually jump on it.  I was a step ahead of him this time, because I had already taken my first bite, and as soon as I tasted the creamy filling of these little morsels, I was asking for the recipe.

I hope you'll enjoy making this easy, make-ahead dessert, and sharing Petite Cheesecakes with your family and guests sometime soon. (They look something like the photo above or below, but not exactly, because, unfortunately, we forgot our camera that night!)

Petite Cheesecakes

Serves approximately 12 (one apiece)

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
Vanilla wafers
1 can pie filling (whatever flavor you like--we were served raspberry)

Directions:
Blend together cream cheese and sugar; add eggs one at a time, then add lemon juice and vanilla.  Line muffin cups with paper cups, or spray with Pam.  Put 1 vanilla wafer in each.  Fill 2/3 full with filling.  Bake at 375 degrees (Brianna suggests that 350 degrees would be better) for 15-20 minutes.  Top with 1 tablespoon pie filling when removed from the oven.  Cool.  Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Note:
This would be an excellent "starter recipe" for a young girl learning to bake desserts!
Enjoy!