apricot-glazed black and white cheesecakes

This is a great recipe if you are looking for something simple and elegant. Growing up, mini-cheesecakes were one of my mom's specialty desserts. This recipe reminds me of them, except that hers called for a vanilla wafer in the bottom of the cupcake liner for the crust. This one requires you to actually crush cookies and form the crusts in the bottom of each liner. It takes surprisingly less time than it seems like it would.

My camera batteries died, and I have not yet replaced them. However, to give you a visual, they looked kind of like a fried egg with the white cheesecake and the golden circle of apricot jam.

Makes 18

For crust:

3/4 c. crumbled chocolate wafer cookies, such as Nabisco Famous Wafers (they did not have these at my grocery store, so I used chocolate graham crackers instead)

1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp. sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling:

1 lb. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c. sour cream

pinch of salt

3/4 c. apricot jam

Make crust. Preheat oven to 350. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Stir to combine chocolate cookie crumbs, 1 Tbsp. and 1 tsp. sugar, then stir in melted butter. Press 1 Tbsp. of mixture firmly in bottom of each lined cup to form crust. Bake crust until set, about 7 minutes. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 275.

Make filling. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add 1/2 c. sugar, followed by the vanilla. Beat until well combined, about 3 minutes. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, stopping often to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in sour cream and salt until combined.

Pour batter into crust-lined cups, filling each almost to very top. Bake until filling is set around edges but centers appear soft, between 20 and 22 minutes. This part is very important. Get it right, and they really are like tiny cheesecakes. Cool completely. Refrigerate (in tins) for at least four hours (or overnight).

To finish, heat apricot jam in a saucepan until loose. Strain through a fine sieve to remove lumps. Spoon warm jam (about 1 tsp.) onto each cheesecake. Serve immediately.

And if you really want to make a cheesecake lover's day, put a couple aside specifically for them. Trust me, it will make your day, too.