Creamy Irish Cream Cheesecake!

I've mentioned before that my husband is usually the dessert guy in the house. He bakes the cookies, pies and cakes. But since his shoulder surgery has benched him for a few months, it's been up to me - and I am not the greatest baker!!

So for Yom Kippur, I needed to make two desserts. TWO!!! I needed to make one for dinner Friday at my house and one for Break Fast on Saturday at our family friend's house. The pressure was on.

The following recipe was the one I made for Friday night for my husband and parents. The original recipe is here, and I changed it by using Irish Cream extract instead of vanilla and making mini cheesecakes instead of one big one.

The result was positive! Everyone really enjoyed these little cheesecakes, including my father who made a face when I told him it was Irish Cream. Well, he gobbled 2 of them down in no time. So without further ado, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

15 chocolate or vanilla wafer cookies, crushed (1/2 cup)
2 packages (8 oz each) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg whites or 1/2 cup fat-free egg product
2 teaspoons Irish Cream extract (the extract is alcohol free, you can always use regular Irish Cream in the recipe)
2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup fat-free caramel topping
Pecan halves, if desired


Directions:
Heat oven to 300°F.

Put cupcake wrappers in a muffin tin and lightly spray with a cooking spray. Fill the bottom of each wrapper with the crushed wafer crumbs - just a small coating along the bottom.


Beat cream cheese in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Add sugar, egg whites and Irish Cream Extract. Beat on medium speed about 2 minutes or until smooth.

Add yogurt and flour. Beat on low speed until smooth.

Carefully spread batter over cookie crumbs in cupcake wrappers. Bake 1 hour.

Turn off oven; cool in oven 30 minutes with door closed. Remove from oven; cool 15 minutes.


Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Drizzle caramel topping over cheesecake. Garnish with pecan halves. Store covered in the refrigerator.


Prep Time:20 min
Start to Finish:5 hr 5 min