No-Bake Mini Cherry Cheesecake

Ana Flor chose these mini pie plates. 

Graham cracker crumb-butter mixture thankfully stuck well at the bottom of the plates. I was afraid it wouldn't stay in place.

Final product

We also had a can of blueberry pie topping. The cheesecake filling will work perfectly with any topping that you want to use.

The recipe we used is from the free recipe at the back of the cream cheese box. We've just made some minor changes and substitutions. Like instead of using Magnolia All Purpose Cream, we used Nestle Cream instead. Since we've already tried making this using the original recipe, we discovered that using Nestle Cream instead of all-purpose cream made it more delectable. When we used the all-purpose cream before, it made the filling a little fluffy so you taste more of the cream than the cream cheese. By using Nestle Cream, it brought out the flavor of the cream cheese.

The original recipe also has lemon rind. We didn't include this. But if you want to, you can add 1 tsp lemon rind.

Here's our tweaked recipe:

Ingredients -
Crust: 1 1/4 cups Graham cracker crumbs (we used MY San Graham Cracker Crumbs)
            1 tsp cinnamon
            1/3 cup melted butter
            2 tbsps sugar

Filling: 1 pkg Magnolia Cream Cheese, softened
             1/4 cup sugar
             1 tbsp unflavored gelatin dissolved in
             3 tbsps fresh milk (we used evaporated milk instead)
             1 can Nestle Cream (the original recipe called for Magnolia All Purpose Cream), chilled
           
             1 can Cherry Pie Filling

To make the crust, mix crumbs with cinnamon, sugar and melted butter. Press on 12-14 pieces mini pie plates.

For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until light and well-blended. Meanwhile, dissolve the unflavored gelatin in milk over low heat and add to cream cheese mixture while still hot. Continue beating to blend well. In a separate bowl, whip cream until stiff and fold into the cream cheese mixture. Pour onto crumb-lined pan. Top with the cherry pie filling. Chill for 4-6 hours.

Leche Flan

This recipe has been in our family for as long as I can remember. I learned this from my mother and aunt.

Flan:

8 eggyolks

1 can condensed milk

1 big can evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla

Syrup:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

Mix together all the ingredients for the flan and pass through a sieve for a smoother consistency.

Cook the sugar and water and let it boil for 5-10 minutes. Then let it cool down a bit.

Pour the syrup mixture in a molder then slowly pour the custard mixture on top. Make sure that the molder has a cover.

Steam this for about 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the custard comes out clean.

Chocolate Pudding

This recipe brings out memories of childhood. When me and my brother would hover over the stove while my mother cooks this for us. We would be fighting over who would get to have the laddle to lick off the pudding (coated all over).

1/4 cup cocoa, unsweetened

1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

1/2 cup all purpose flour

pinch of salt

• Put all ingredients in a saucepan.
• Cook over low heat stirring all the time until thick.
• Pour into molders to set.
• Spoon grated buko on top or eat as it is.
• Makes 6-8 servings