Savoury Mini Cheesecakes

You can prepare 2 different tastes from 1 filling, which means you can please both vegetarians and seafood lovers at the same time. These tarts should be frozen if you are packaging them as they are fragile. They should also be refrigerated if not eaten right away. A great partner for a well-balanced dry white wine. Cheesecakes can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen. Recipe created by Chef Jill Snider of Ontario.

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Yields: 36 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients

• Basic Cheesecake

• 3  ounces  pretzels
• 1⁄4 cup butter, melted
• 8  ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2  eggs
• 2  tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1  pinch fresh ground black pepper
• 1  cup sour cream

• Smoked Salmon Filling

• 1⁄2 cup  chopped smoked salmon
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh dill
• 1  tablespoon lemon juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  grated lemon zest
•  fresh dill sprig (to garnish)

• Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Filling

• 5  tablespoons  finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 3  tablespoons  chopped black olives
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons  chopped fresh basil
•  fresh basil leaf (to garnish)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300ºF.
2. Spray 3 miniature muffin trays with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Process pretzels in food processor until very fine (consistency of dry bread crumbs). You should have ¾ cup crumbs. Mix with melted butter.
4. Press 1 into bottom of each muffin cup. Bake in centre of preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until set.
5. Beat cream cheese to blend.
6. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in flour, pepper and sour cream.
7. Divide mixture into 2 bowls.
8. Stir ingredients for salmon filling into 1 bowl and Sun-dried Tomato and Olive filling into the other. Mix well. Spoon about 1 tbsp filling over each tart base. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or just until filling is set. Cool to room temperature on wire rack, then cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Run knife around edge of each cheesecake to loosen. Garnish with fresh dill or basil leaf before serving.