Mmmmmm

Cheesecake Cookies

½ cup cream cheese, soft
½ cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
1 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese. Gradually beat in sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and salt.

Whisk together baking powder and flour in a small bowl and, mixing by hand or at low speed, add to cream cheese mixture.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, until the bottom edge just barely turns brown.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Yogurt Cheesecake
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
16-oz Greek-style yogurt, room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

Prebake a graham cracker base into a 9-inch springform pan (see recipe below); a 9-inch graham cracker pie crust should work fairly well, too. This cheesecake can also be baked without a crust.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a food processor, blend cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and salt until mixture is very, very smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, until the cake is set and jiggles only slightly when gently tapped.

Cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

Serves 10

Springform Graham Cracker Base
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until well combined. Press into a 9-inch springform pan, pressing the crust slightly up the sides if you don’t wish to have a thick crust on the bottom.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Cool completely before filling.