Easy Elegant Mini Cheesecake Bites

If you haven’t already started to seriously plan your Thanksgiving menu, you better start now because T-Day is exactly 2 weeks away.  Seriously, two weeks away and you know Costco is going to be crazy next week.  This year Thanksgiving is going to be very interesting here.  Unlike previous years where I do most of the cooking, this year I am going to be heavily relying on others, especially my husband.

As you’re ready this, I am having my right shoulder surgically repaired because aging + playing sports aggressively + aging (again) = my body is not getting younger and I better treat it right.  Earlier this year I dislocated my right shoulder while working out and an MRI revealed that I tore my labrum which is the ligament in my shoulder which holds the ball in my upper arm in the shoulder socket.  Because it’s torn, my shoulder easily pops out and dislocates itself which is extremely painful.  There are days when opening up the refrigerator hurts so bad it paralyzes me momentarily. After months of physical therapy my shoulder was not getting better and because I would like to continue playing and competing in sports I am having it surgically repaired.  Because my physical therapist reads SSL and has probably been wondering what happened to me, all I can say is, “Hi Chris, I’ll be seeing you again very soon.”  So as you’re reading this I am probably in surgery or just out of surgery on heavy medication sipping grape juice and eating saltine crackers in a beautiful hospital gown.

All of this to say, my husband who cannot cook to save his life, will have to be my sous chef under my instruction and watchful eye. There has been one too many incidents of him pouring salt into a recipe calling for sugar, so Thanksgiving cooking should be interesting since my arm will be in a sling and I will not be able to use it through the holidays.

I realize that I’m rambling without any medication.  This is me under a little bit of anxiety.  Last week I spoke with my boss at PBS and thankfully she is allowing me to rest and take time off if I need to.  If this surgery is anything like one of my 3 c-sections, I will push through and keep working like normal.  But if the pain is anything like an exposed root nerve on a tooth, I might not be posting for awhile.  Let’s hope for the former and pray it doesn’t feel like the latter.

With all of that said, today I have a great simple but elegant cheesecake recipe.  These cheesecake bites are pretty simple to make and look fabulous with a little bit of jam on top and a touch of lemon zest to make them pop.  I like this method of making mini cheesecakes because from the time you start making these until they are cool enough to serve, it takes less than 90 minutes.  This means you could start making these as you begin to prepare dinner and have them ready by the time you need to serve dessert.  I also love this size of cheesecake because they are perfect for potlucks, dinner parties, bridal and baby showers, birthdays,  and any other social function you need to bring dessert.  This recipe also makes one dozen mini cheesecake bites which is a reasonable portion size for a small dinner party or family dinner.

If you’re looking for other cheesecake recipes, I recently posted a Black Tie Cheesecake recipe (with a link for step by step video instructions) which is also perfect for the holidays.

So say a prayer for me and send me positive thoughts of healing. I could use them today.