Strawberry Malted Milkshake Cheesecake Bites
Very few desserts bring back nostalgic, summer memories, quite like the flavor of an “old-fashioned” strawberry malted milkshake. Now tell me you didn’t smile a little just thinking about it?! Assuming you have had a chance to look at some of my previous recipes, you already know I love to cook and bake with beer, but did you know that liquid malt extract makes for an incredible cooking ingredient, too? Well, I am here to show you how, with these mouthwatering and decadent cheesecake bites, inspired by one of my favorite summer treats from childhood.
This recipe captures the flavor and spirit of those classic malted milkshakes, but with a “grown-up” twist that makes an awesome and easy to prepare party snack… Or you can eat all 36 of them yourself while hiding in the hallway coat closet; I am not here to tell you how to live! But seriously, these things are GOOD, so you will probably want to stash a couple in the freezer behind the frozen peas, as they are not known to last very long! Without any further delay, let’s make some!
Ingredients:
36 whole Vanilla Wafers
24 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, Softened
3/4 cup Milk Powder
4 Tablespoons Pale or smooth LME
½ cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Strawberry Jam or preserves (not jelly, because that has gelatin, and we don’t need that for this)
1 pinch Salt
3 whole Eggs
¾ cups Sour Cream
Whipped topping:
1-½ cup Heavy Cream
¼ cups Powdered Sugar
Other Items:
Enough cupcake tins and wrappers to make 36 bites
A small shot glass to crush each wafer inside the tin
Sliced strawberries to use as a garnish (optional)
How to make them:
Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
Place a vanilla wafer in each lined muffin tin, cup. Using your shot glass, press the vanilla wafers until crushed to fill the bottom of each liner.
Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, milk powder, malt, and sugar until fluffy, 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and jam. Beat until well incorporated.
Scrape the bowl and add the salt, eggs, and sour cream; beat until smooth.
Add about 1/3 cup of cheesecake batter to each cup in your tins and make sure each crumbled wafer is covered.
Bake for 30-45 minutes until the centers are just set. Check at 30 minutes with a toothpick. The center should be still a little loose, but mostly solid. They can take up to 45 minutes. Just make sure you watch them!
Take them out of the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes at room temp and then into the fridge for 4 hours.
Once the bites are fully chilled, whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar together. Dollop the whipped cream on top of each cheesecake and top with a strawberry slice.
I hope you love this recipe! Let me know if you would like to see more recipes that use LME or DME as an ingredient!
ENJOY!
Ashley
