Yesterday, when I told Gracen that we’d be celebrating Papa’s birthday soon, the first thing she said was, “We need to make a cake!”  Then she went on about painting him party hats and getting 3 pink gifts, but I digress.  Originally, I was thinking about doing two cakes.  Something delicious and wildly unhealthy from Pioneer Woman for Brad, and something wholesome, wholewheat, and sugar/butter-free for Miss G to enjoy.  Buuuuut, when I thought about doing a cheesecake for Brad (one of his favourites), I realized that I could probably do a modified version that would suit everyone’s needs since cheesecake is mostly just cream cheese. My main obstacle was coming up with a yummy crust without using the usual graham wafer/sugar/butter combo, but I played around a little bit  and I’m happy to report and it turned out really well.

As for the cheesecake itself, I wasn’t sure about it at first.  It tasted good fresh out of the oven, but it was light and bubbly instead of thick and dense the way proper cheesecake is supposed to be.  In the words of my husband, it tasted “healthyish”.  I had come to terms with the fact that I’d have to do some recipe revamping in the future, until we tasted it again tonight.  After sitting in the refrigerator overnight, it had densed up significantly and was actually really good!  Good enough to make again, that’s for sure.

Here’s the lineup of ingredients my little sous chef and I used to make our mini mason jar cheesecakes…  Sour cream, cream cheese, lemon zest, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla, almonds, an egg, and coconut.  Plus the mini mason jars themselves, of course.  5 of these little jelly jars works perfectly with this recipe.

To make our crust, we added some coconut, some raw almonds, a little bit of pure maple syrup, and a little bit of pure vanilla into our food processor and blended until it was thick and sticky.

Then we scooped the crust mixture evenly into our 5 jars, and Miss G used a cork to flatten them out.

This was the end result.

With our crusts ready to go, we switched our focus over to the actual cheesecake part.  First, we added our room temperature cream cheese and egg into our mixer and beat until smooth.  

Next we added our sour cream, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla, and lemon zest, and mixed again.

Baking is ridiculously fun, wouldn’t you agree?

With our cheesecake filling prepared, we poured the mixture evenly into our 5 mason jars.

Then we placed them into a high-walled baking dish, filled it halfway up the jars with hot water, and baked the entire thing.

When they’d finished baking, I topped the ones for Gracen and I with stewed blueberries…

And the birthday boy’s with deliciously naughty Nutella.  Of course the options are endless really…  Fresh berries, shredded coconut, sliced bananas, or mini dark chocolate chips would all make yummy toppings too.  

The biggest perks to these little desserts is that they already come in a storage container, they’re super easy to hand out at parties, and they tuck easily into picnic baskets and backpacks for a treat on the go.

Healthier Mini Mason Jar Cheesecakes

{adapted from this recipe}

• 5 4 oz. mason jars

• 1/3 cup of raw almonds
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut
• 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

• 250 grams of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup of sour cream, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• zest of 1/2 a lemon
• 2.5 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

Blend almonds, coconut, maple syrup, and vanilla in a food processor until thick and paste-like.  Divide the mixture equally into 5 mini mason jars and use a cork to create a flat, even crust.

In a mixer, combine the cream cheese and egg until smooth.  Add in the sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and pure maple syrup and mix again.  

Pour the cream cheese mixture evenly into the 5 mason jars.  Place the jars in a high-walled baking dish, fill it with water until halfway up the jars, and bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

Allow to cool on the counter.  Top with toppings of your choice before or after refrigerating overnight.

Enjoy!

♥ 

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