Eggless Mini Cheesecakes with Cherry White Chocolate Glaze

I was inspired to make these cheesecakes for my friends in my pandemic bubble. I love mini/single serving desserts and they are especially appropriate for social distancing. I did not intend to make these cheesecakes an eggless variety but I baked them at my partner’s place and had to improvise. I’ve done many kinds of baking over the years to accommodate a variety of dietary needs–dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, vegan. But baking in someone else’s kitchen is a whole new flavor of baking. My partner seldom cooks or bakes and I often forget basic staples when shopping for my baking recipes because I assume I already have them. But at my partner’s place that may not be the case. Further, I don’t want to buy too large a quantity of items he won’t use (like wasting 11 eggs from a dozen if I just need 1 for a recipe). As a result, I end up doing a lot of improv baking or bachelor pad baking, if you will (like making a llama-shaped cake with peach greek yogurt as the dairy source). This eggless mini cheesecake is another such example of improv baking in someone else’s kitchen.

The base for this cheesecake was made using Oreos and butter. I separated the cream from the Oreo (and saved it for a white chocolate sauce). I then crushed the cookie part of the Oreo, combined with butter, and pushed this mixture into the bottom of my ramekins before baking for 15 minutes at 350F.

Next I prepared the eggless cheesecake filling according to this recipe. I mixed everything by hand because I didn’t have a mixer, I used 6 tablespoons of milk because I didn’t have lemon juice, I used flour instead of cornstarch because I didn’t have cornstarch. I baked for 45 minutes at 325F (but checked on it in 10 min increments to make sure it did not get over done because I wasn’t sure of the baking times for mini cheesecakes versus a full-sized one). These cheesecakes came out with a beautiful, creamy, jiggly texture and, overall, I am super happy with this recipe.

For the topping, I made a cherry sauce using a bag of frozen cherries, sugar, and flour instead of cornstarch since I didn’t have cornstarch. I eyeballed these measurements but it was probably only about a teaspoon of sugar and about a tablespoon of flour (because I knew the white chocolate sauce would be sweet so I didn’t want to add too much sugar). I made the white chocolate sauce by first heating up milk (but not boiling) and then adding white chocolate and the cream from the Oreos (again eyeballing) to get a nice medium thick chocolate consistency. After letting the cheesecake cool, I topped it with the cherry sauce, the white chocolate sauce, butterscotch chips, and pearl sprinkles to give the mini cheesecakes a whimsical, mermaid-y spring look (and a little bit of varied texture). I let them set in the fridge for a few hours before serving to friends. I’m really happy with how this recipe turned out, especially since I didn’t make it in my own kitchen. Cheers to yummy, colorful spring treats!