Mini Peach Cheesecakes (recipe)

Since they're mini, does that mean I can have two...or three?

This is the first year that our baby peach tree has given us a proper harvest. And by that I mean it produced a few peaches that are big enough to do something besides feed the deer. I didn't know quite what I wanted to do with them until I caught a rerun of the Rachael Ray Show. Paula Deen was on and had a recipe for a Cream Cheese Tart With Raspberries. It looked delicious and easy...two of my favorite things. I used her tart base recipe (with only a minor addition) and came up with a peach filling that topped it off perfectly.

I'm so proud of our little peach tree.

Peach Cheesecake Topping

(makes 2/3 cup)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup diced, peeled peaches
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• Dash of cinnamon
• Dash of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.
2. Simmer until the mixture is reduced by about half, stirring occasionally.
3. Allow to cool before topping the cheesecakes.
4. Nom, nom, nom.

I adore the houndstooth cupcake liners. They make everything look chic.

The addition I made to Paula Deen's recipe was two teaspoons of lemon flavoring to the cheesecake mixture in addition to the vanilla extract. You could use any flavoring, but the lemon complemented the peaches beautifully.

Nom!

To finish it off, I added some fresh peach slices to the top. So delicious!