Mini Cheesecakes with Nectarine and Grape

As I have mentioned several times previously, we have hallway dinners in the student housing I live in. Basically all or most tenants of the same hallway gets together to eat, roughly once a week. Last semester, I was in a different hallway (having moved during the summer), and this hallway has themed dinners.

For example, the stuffed bell peppers I made a couple of weeks ago were for a Mexican-themed dinner.

This week, we had an American themed dinner. I immediately volunteered to make cheesecakes, for although I've made them numerous times in the past (21 to be exact!), I haven't made a cheesecake in a while. It was high time for me to get back on my cheesecake track.

These were plain vanilla cheesecakes, with a small crust made from crushed digestive-type cookies and some melted butter. I topped them with nectarine slices that I left to soak in a bit of slightly sweetened water syrup, and I added half a grape for color contrast.

As sour cream is not cheap, I opted for some Greek-style yogurt to sub in. It may have been part of the cause for a higher density of the cheesecake, which was not the usual smooth creaminess. That may also have been partially because I'm still not used to baking in the small toaster oven we have here, and may have overbaked it all a bit...

As I had leftover cheesecake filling, I put it all in a small springform pan to make the larger one.

Vegan Flan/Crème Brulée

In my plum tart post, I mentioned a vegan custard recipe, which I used as a base for the fruits on the tart. I had put the leftover custard into small oven dishes and filmed them to prevent the formation of a weird skin.

I then put a layer of brown sugar on top and broiled them in the oven until melted and slightly toffee-like.

Unfortunately, either because I took too long between the making of the custard and the caramelizing/toffee-ing, or because of the reheating and re-cooling, the texture of the custard wasn't the smooth creaminess I found in the tart base. The flavor, however, was wonderful, especially with the melted brown sugar that became both a small film of crunchiness and a delicious caramel sauce. This will be something to try again, maybe with tweaks to the recipe.

Rest assured, the recipe was fine in the tart~

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VEGAN CUSTARD RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 500 mL milk of choice (I used unsweetened soymilk)
• 2 tbs honey/syrup/unrefined sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbs cornstarch (which I didn't have so I subbed with 6 tbs wheat flour)

  Procedure

1. Mix milk, sweetener, and vanilla in a pot and heat until almost boiling.
2. Make a slurry out of starch and a bit of water, and add to the pot, stirring.
3. Simmer until thickened.
4. Consume as fast as possible.