Instructions

1. Line up your ramekins on a baking sheet. Spray them lightly with nonfat cooking spray, then blot them with a paper towel. Set your oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Add a crunchy surprise at the bottom of the ramekin dishes. Make a simple graham cracker crust, just like you would a full, round cheesecake by mixing graham cracker crumbs, or chocolate-flavored crumbs, and butter. Consider placing a round cookie at the bottom of each ramekin. Vanilla and shortbread cookies are choices that complement cheesecake; so are sandwich cookies.

3. Prepare your cheesecake filling. Generally, for every 8-ounce package of cream cheese, one egg should be included in a mixture that also includes sugar and vanilla extract. But now might be a good time to experiment. For example, you might enjoy the addition of sour cream, mascarpone cheese or sweetened condensed milk. Keep in mind that two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese will produce enough cream cheese mixture to fill 12 ramekin dishes.

4. Select your toppers for the cheesecake ramekins. It’s smart to decide this now because you may wish to create some symmetry between the topper and the cheesecake filling. For example, if you want to top each ramekin cheesecake with chocolate, you may wish to add some semi-sweet baking chips to the batter; if you want to top the little cheesecakes with strawberries, you may wish to fold some fresh, chopped strawberries into the batter. If you like fruit, also consider blueberries, cut apples or a jelly preserve. Virtually any kind of chocolate candy can be added to the top (and filling); for nut lovers, pecans and chopped walnuts work best.

5. Fill the ramekins with the cheesecake batter until they are about three-quarters fill. Bake them for 25 minutes.

6. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cheesecakes cool completely. In doing so, the tops may naturally deflate a little, so don’t be alarmed. Add your topper of choice, perhaps with a touch of drizzled chocolate, whipping cream or fresh mint.