Baked Cheesecakes with Cherry Pie Filling
adapted from 500 Cupcakes
for 12 cupcakes
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
5 table spoons sweet butter melted
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling
preheat oven to 325
line your muffin pan with liners
put the cracker crumbs into a medium bowl and stir in the butter. spoon the crumbs into the lined cups.
now here is a trick for ya, use a 1/4 measuring cup to press the crumbs firmly into the bottom of the cups. this was a wonderful timesaver and worked like a charm
chill until set
in a large bowl, beat the ricotta until smooth, (this takes a while and I did not beat it long enough so my cake was a bit gritty, remember take your time with this step) add the cream cheese, vanilla and sugar blending until smooth, I choose to cut the cream cheese up into one inch pieces and add it gradually to the mixture. I think it helped a bit with the texture. slowly add the eggs blend them well after each addition. spoon them into cups
bake for 25 minutes. remove pan form the oven and cool for 5 minutes then remove the cupcakes and cool on rack (this is tricky too, be careful when you remove them from the pan)
chill until ready to serve. open the can-o-cherries and top each cake
plate with or with out the wrapper.
