EST. 2011 BY LIZ RUEVEN
Easy Creamy Cheesecake Bites
Photo: Liz Rueven

Easy Creamy Cheesecake Bites

I think everything is better in mini, especially enticing holiday desserts that are better eaten in controlled portions. Shavuot desserts, laden and rich with creamy cheese, are almost impossible to resist, though.

I really understood how tantalizing mini cheesecakes are when I taught an animated group of tweens how to make these mouthwatering bites during a class recently. I proudly confess that none of us ate just one bite.

Cheese cake, dairy kugels (puddings), blintzes, bourekas and anything with dairy, in fact, has long been a tradition on the Shavuot table. Some attribute the custom of eating dairy to the reference of Israel as the Land of Milk and Honey. Some prefer to link dairy to this joyful holiday when we received our Torah, including the complex laws of keeping kosher.

Kosher Mini cheesecake bites
Photo: Liz Rueven

If that’s the case, then dairy was a safe bet since there wasn’t time to celebrate with a meal that complied with kosher laws in between receiving the commandments and prepping the feast.

It strikes me as a very Kosher Like Me choice, really.

For other dairy recipes for your Shavuot table scroll up to the HOLIDAYS  tab and click on Shavuot. You’ll find kugels, bourekas, phyllo pie, OH MY!

There are lots of great variations on the cheesecake theme: pumpkin, oreo, red velvet, maple/ginger, and my second place favorite chocolate cheesecake brownies. Still, no matter how I admire these other versions, I am a cream cheese cake traditionalist.

As I landed on a classic version to teach to my trio of twelve year olds, I went with a dense cream cheese cake, the kind we love in NYC. Because it was way before berry season, we topped these creamy bites with a variety of jams.

If you make these luscious minis in the summer, be sure to use the best freshly harvested strawberries and blueberries you can find.

CT strawberries
Photo: Liz Rueven

Shavuot is celebrated from 9:00 EST on May 19- 9:00 PM on May 21, 2018. Happy Holiday to all. And to those who don’t celebrate, find some friends who do and enjoy their cheesecakes.

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