Perfect Lemon (or Lime) Cheesecake Cups

February 14, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
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Perfect Lemon (or Lime) Cheesecake Cups

We love cheesecake, but I prefer to make it without flour or cane sugar, and I like to make individual serving size cups too. To that end, I present you lovely little cheesecake cups in ramekins. If you have the old Pyrex fluted ½ cup ramekins, those work great too. Whatever you use needs to be oven proof.

For juice, I like Minute Maid frozen lemon juice but any other kind will work, fresh too. The flavor may just be a tiny bit more subtle. For the lime, I use key lime juice that I buy in a 16-ounce bottle in the grocery aisle. NOT sweetened. It’s shelf stable until opened then must be refrigerated. I freeze the whole bottle and take it out when I want to use some.

For perfect cheesecake, everything has to be room temperature or a little warm. It’s easy to get this with a microwave, but that doesn’t work for an egg. What to do? When I was learning to make macarons, I came across a simple tip. Place an egg from the fridge into a bowl of hot tap water for ten minutes. Voila, a room temp egg.

You can make this in just three ramekins for an extra-large portion. You can also place a good cookie, such as a butter short bread, in the bottom of each ramekin for a crust.

Ingredients

  • 1 8-ounce block cream cheese (preferably full fat (Philadelphia has been the most reliable but I’ve used lots of other brands.)
  • 4 Tablespoons maple syrup (or sugar if you prefer)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3 Tablespoons lemon or key lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon of tapioca flour, or cornstarch

Directions

  1. If you can remember, get your ingredients out a couple hours in advance.
  2. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
  3. Set two cups of water to heat in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.
  4. Cut the cream cheese up into chunks in a bowl.
  5. Pour the maple syrup over the cream cheese.
  6. Microwave on medium power for one minute.
  7. Whisk together gently. Side to side until everything is incorporated without any lumps works best.
  8. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg then incorporate into the cream cheese and maple syrup.
  9. Stir in the lemon or lime juice.
  10. Whisk in the tapioca flour or cornstarch.
  11. Divide the filling between four ramekins.
  12. Place the ramekins in a square tin or glass dish.
  13. Pour the water into the tin, around the ramekins.
  14. Carefully place in the oven.
  15. Bake for 30 minutes.
  16. Turn the oven off and set the timer for another 30 minutes.
  17. At the end of the hour, remove the tin from the oven.
  18. Use tongs to place the ramekins onto a towel. Alternatively, use a turkey baster to remove the water from the tin without taking the ramekins out.
  19. Allow to cool for 30 to 60 minutes then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
  20. Enjoy!

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The Sunday Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Loaf

August 9, 2020 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
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I had an incredible yen for something blueberry and lemon last weekend, it is blueberry season after all. I went through multiple recipes online looking for something that would work with my baking requirements and found this one https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2019/06/blueberry-lemon-ricotta-tea-cake.html from Karen’s Kitchen Stories. I proceeded to deconstruct it and figure out how to make one that would work for me.

I cut the recipe in half to start with. I wanted to be able to make it in a loaf pan instead of my big spring form cake pan. (I also only had a couple cups of blueberries and one lemon.) I figured out how much of my different flours I would use in place of wheat flour, and switched out the sugar for maple syrup. It looked like there was enough eggs and baking powder that I wouldn’t need to add more. I also traded the vanilla for lemon extract.

I got all the dry ingredients put together on Saturday night, set out the butter and maple syrup, then got up early Sunday morning to bake a loaf before the heat set in for the day. It turned out fabulous!

I’m sure it would work fine if you substituted a gluten free flour blend of your choice for the blend of flours I use, but this one is my favorite.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups blueberries
  • 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 6 Tablespoons maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
  • Zest from 1 lemon
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup ricotta cheese
  • 1/3 cup (or 42 grams) tapioca flour
  • 1/3 cup (or 42 grams) coconut flour
  • ½ cup + 1 ½ Tablespoons almond flour (or 70 grams)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 340 degrees.
  2. Spray or grease a loaf pan.
  3. Take a square of parchment paper. (Picture below.)
    1. Fold back and crease two opposing sides so that it is as long as the loaf pan.
    2. Place it into the loaf pan and crease so that it goes down one long side, across the bottom, and up the other side. It should extend up well beyond the sides of the pan.
    3. Fold the wings down and crease.
    4. You now have a parchment cradle for lifting the bread out after it is baked.
  4. Clean the outside of the lemon and dry then peel just the zest off (the very outer yellow part) and chop up fine.
  5. In a small bowl, mix the blueberries and cornstarch. Set aside.
  6. Cream the butter and maple syrup.
  7. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
  8. Mix in the ricotta cheese.
  9. Add the lemon extract and lemon zest.
  10. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt.
  11. Mix the flour combo into the wet ingredients, stirring until combined.
  12. Gently stir in the blueberries.
  13. Pour into the greased and lined loaf pan.
  14. Bake for 80 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.
  15. Cool in the pan for about ten minutes.
  16. Lift the loaf out using the paper cradle and cool on a rack until desired temp for eating. (It’s good warm or cold.)
  17. Enjoy!
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