Mini Amaretto Cheesecakes

 This month Alphabakes has teamed up with Random Recipes and we are asking people to choose a cookery book at random, and then choose something from the A section. I asked my boyfriend to pick a random number and counted along my shelves until I found the book corresponding with that number; it turned out to be Marian Keyes' Saved By Cake. The 'a' section isn't particularly big; I had a choice of Pear, Almond and Tahini Cake; Individual Amaretto Cheesecakes; Apple Macaroons; Mam's Apple Tart, or Armenian Sugar Cookies. My boyfriend doesn't like apple or pear and I thought the cheesecakes sounded nicer than cookies, so that's the recipe I chose. These were easy to make and tasted delicious.

To make 6-8, you need:

150g amaretti biscuits

40g butter

360g cream cheese e.g. Philadelphia

80g caster sugar

2 eggs, separated

3 tbsp amaretto liqueur or a few drops of almond essence

Preheat oven to 150C. Melt the butter and crush the biscuits; I did this in a food processor but you can also use a rolling pin (with the biscuits in a plastic food bag).

Grease a 6-hole muffin tin; I sprayed mine with Cake Release. Mix the butter and the biscuit crumbs and press down into the base of the muffin tin.

I found I had enough crushed biscuits for 8 rather than 6 portions. Bake in the oven for 15 mins. Allow to cool then refrigerate for an hour.

To make the filling, preheat the oven once more to 150C. I had a bottle of amaretto in the back of the cupboard which was unopened but I can't remember where I bought it - I think probably on holiday!

In a bowl beat the cheese, sugar and egg yolks. Add the amaretto; you can also use almond essence if you don't want to use alcohol.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff then fold into the cheese mixture. Spoon on top of the cheesecake bases.

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.The cheesecakes will rise like a souffle and then fall back again; the ones in the picture in the recipe book were sunken as well so I guess this is what they are supposed to look like!

Allow to cool; these are best refrigerated overnight and served the next day. The base of the cheesecake is particularly more-ish!

I'm sending these to Alphabakes and Random Recipes for our joint challenge this month.