Savory Mini-Cheesecakes

Soupereasy and I made these as a last-minute addition to today's lunch, primarily because I wanted to try it with last night's sour cherry sauce as part of a cheese course.

These were so easy to make (cream cheese, eggs, sour cream, blue cheese, parsley, and salt and pepper) and they puffed up beautifully. Ours took a bit longer than the 20 minutes called for in the recipe as my ramekins were a half-cup rather than a quarter cup in size.

The blue cheese flavor of these is fairly assertive as this is a more densely textured cheesecake. Barefoot Contessa (Barefoot in Paris) has blue cheese souffle that is equally delicious but has a lighter texture and subtler flavor. Either of these recipes would work as a light lunch with a side salad.

The slightly heavier texture and more assertive flavor of this recipe also makes it a good choice as a part of a cheese course, either with a fruit sauce on the side (the sour cherry sauce which I reviewed with the grilled pork chops recipe from Epicurious) or drizzled with honey or even with the honey-like beer jelly we made earlier this year. However, to make this as part of a cheese course, I would use smaller quarter cup ramekins.

I would also like to make these again replacing the parsley with fresh tarragon.