Peachy-Keen Dessert

It’s the height peach season and I was anxious to taste this year’s harvest. Peaches are one of the juiciest stone fruits with a beautiful gold and blush-colored skin. If you’re a peach fan, you can enjoy them year-round as it’s simple to freeze them – just peel, slice and pack in freezer bags or containers. Tossing the slices with a tablespoon of lemon juice will prevent them from turning brown.

I wanted to make a peach dessert but didn’t want anything as “messy” as a peach pie so I decided to make mini cheesecakes with a big slice of peach in each. There’s little prep work involved and the small size cooks up in just 20 minutes. “Peachy Keen, Jelly Bean!”

The mini cheesecakes have no crust and are baked in individual muffin cups which makes them easy to transport and simple to clean up. The muffin cups also act as the perfect cradle for the juicy peach slice. To add a bit of flair to the dessert, I baked them in tall decorative paper muffin cups that looked like monarch butterflies (available at local supermarkets and craft stores).

You can dress up the mini cheesecakes, topping them with some pureed raspberries for a Peach Melba flavor, sprinkle some crushed Italian Amaretto cookies or a drizzle of Nocello - a delicious walnut-flavored liquor.

PEACH MINI CHEESECAKES

3 peaches, peeled and quartered
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup sour cream
1 dozen paper muffin cup liners
Muffin tin

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the muffin cup liners into the muffin tin.

In a medium bowl beat together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the egg, vanilla, cornstarch and cream cheese and beat until smooth.

Put a slice of peach in each muffin cup. Using a spoon, carefully top each peach slice with about 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of cheesecake batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until set. Be careful to not overcook the mini cheesecakes or they will dry out and begin to crack.

Chill in the fridge until ready to enjoy.