Valentine's Day No Bake Mini Cheesecakes

Those who know me also know that I looove miniatures. All miniatures, not just food, but I go crazy with every tiny little thing I see, a tiny cupcake earring, a tiny souvenir doll, a tiny chair for tiny dolls. And this has been since I was a child. I loved to play dolls with tiny little pots and fake cook tiny little pasta and put on the dolls tiny little shoes. I remember when I used to have art classes at school. We learned how to make origami and had to make a project (like a maquette) in the end with the pieces we'd made. I chose to make a mini zoo. The zoo wasn't that mini, but the origami animals were. They measured up to 1,5 cm height and I just had so much fun making them and appreciating how tiny they were. I have a friend (Carol) who never forgets that and if she reads this, she will laugh.

And here I am, baking and decorating, not just mini desserts, obviously... My passion when decorating is the detail, the tiny details that make the difference. When I bake, if I can make something very little, makes me have fun. It is all also a challenge.

As it is Valentine's Day, I think these little treats could make a nice surprise. Unfortunately, hubby won't have them because they're gone long time ago :)

The original recipe is from Nigella and I changed a few things because I made them in those little forms. I added gelatin because it was the first time I was using the tins, so I wanted to make sure the cheesecakes would come out nice and clean.

Valentine's Day No Bake Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

125g graham crackers

75g soft butter

300g cream cheese

60g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

250ml double cream

1 tablespoon of no flavored gelatin powder

1 jar of strawberry preserves (or other of your preference)

Directions:

1. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until beginning to turn to crumbs, then add the butter and whiz again to make the mixture clump.
   
2. Press about 0.5cm of this mixture into tiny springform tins. Don't add too much here or you won't have enough space for the cream.
3. Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.
4. Lightly whip the double cream, and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
5. Hydrate the gelatin in about 2 tablespoons of warm water. Before it hardens add it to the cream mixture stirring slowly.
6. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spoon. Put the tins in a bigger form and leave them in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.
7. When you are ready to serve the cheesecakes, unmould them and spread the preserves over the top.
8. Additional information - for vegetarains make sure the cream cheese is a brand suitable for vegetarians.

These mini cheesecake pans I bought in Brazil while visiting my family in 2010. The moment I saw them, I knew I had to make something :)

Enjoy!