Cheesecake for the Kitchen-Phobic Chef

Nov. 28, 2007— -- My mom had some decidedly unusual techniques in the kitchen. Up there with the wackiest of them was warming opened cans of vegetables on a cookie sheet in the oven. She figured, "Why dirty a pot if I don't have to?" I called it Popeye cooking. We would run downstairs to the pantry every night before dinner to collect that evening's canned vegetables. Green beans were a regular (though they were more often brown by the time Mom got through with them), and creamed corn was our favorite. By now, you're probably wondering why I'm prefacing a recipe for cheesecake with a story about heating cans of vegetables in the oven. It's because of what happened the time Mom and I were making no-bake cheesecakes for Thanksgiving. Mom told Dad to put the cans of vegetables into the oven, which he dutifully did.

The only problem was, no one had opened the cans. Forty-five minutes later, the oven door burst open and out flew a can of creamed corn, heading straight for the plate-glass sliding door. It flew past Grandma and the crudités, barely missing Mom and me and the cheesecakes. The cheesecakes were unharmed. Mom used whole vanilla wafers for these, but I've refined her recipe by making the little crusts out of vanilla cookie crumbs.

Makes 24 Mini Cheesecakes

1. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until you have crumbs. Line the cups of two mini muffin pans with paper liners and spoon a layer of cookie crumbs into the bottom of each.

2. In the bowl of a standard mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. On low speed, beat in the sour cream and lemon juice until well combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Spoon or pipe the filling into the cups. Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours, until set, or overnight.

4. Before serving, top each cheesecake with a strawberry piece or two.