Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes

Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes explore cheesecake’s savory side.  Select a creamy but not runny goat cheese for this recipe for the best results.  We used three different herbs, fresh thyme leaves, snipped chives and different varieties of basil leaves sliced into thin ribbons, along with thinly sliced fresh mission figs to accent our Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes in this recipe.  Feel free to use a selection of herbs or seasonal fruit of your choice when making Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes at your house.

There are “must-do” parts in this recipe: 1) use four 4” springform pans, preferably with a non-stick coating, 2) use an electric hand mixer and 3) after baking, leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door propped open and the heat turned off for 1 hour to rest.

While many recipes call for using a bain marie or water bath when baking cheesecake, it can be cumbersome.  For most home bakers, it is difficult to execute properly and if you get a leak between the springform pan and the bain marie, you have a soggy disaster on your hands.  While the water bath method is supposed to result in less cracking of the top crust, that has not been our experience.  That said, some light cracking in the cheesecake’s top crust adds character and the small crevices serve as wonderful reservoirs for a sauce topping.

We enjoy serving quarters of two different Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes with a lightly dressed simple green salad or sliced heirloom tomatoes, either for lunch or as an appetizer, using just one cheesecake quarter per plate, at dinner.  Get creative and enjoy!

Goat Cheese Mini Cheesecakes

For the crust: Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 35 to 45 minutes.

For the cheesecake: Prep Time: 1-hour, Total Time: 3 hours.

Yields Four 4-inch mini cheesecakes, each of 4 servings.

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