To Bake the Cheesecake Filling:
Put both cupcake pans in the preheated oven and bake the cheesecake filling at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top of the filling has set and has a satiny-looking finish. (The center may sink a bit, but that’s okay—the topping will cover that.)
Take the muffin pans out of the oven and set them on cold stovetop burners or wire racks. Cool your Miniature Lemon Cheesecakes until they reach room temperature.
To Add the Lemon Topping:
When the cheesecakes have cooled, take the leftover Lemon Curd out of the refrigerator and give it a stir with a spoon from your silverware drawer. Then add topping to bring the muffin cups to about ? full.
When, and if, you run out of Lemon Curd, fill the remaining muffin cups with berry jam.
Refrigerate your Miniature Lemon (or Berry) Cheesecakes in the muffin tins for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
To Serve:
Take your cheesecakes out of the refrigerator and carefully remove them, still in their cupcake papers. Place them on a pretty platter for an elegant dessert. Make sure to have hot, strong coffee and icy cold glasses of milk available.
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE
A Stovetop Recipe
Ingredients for Butterscotch Sauce:
? cup salted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound)
1 cup brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
? cup whipping cream (heavy cream—I used Knudsen)
Hannah’s 1st Note: Sally serves this Butterscotch Sauce with her pancakes, waffles, and French toast at her breakfast buffets. Everyone raves about it!
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Gather up all your ingredients before you start to make this recipe.
If you find that your brown sugar has clumped up in hard little nuggets, don’t panic. There’s an easy way to make your own brown sugar as long as you have white (granulated) sugar and molasses. Simply place the cup of white sugar in a small bowl and drizzle one teaspoon of molasses over the top of the bowl. Then mix in the molasses until it is thoroughly combined with the sugar and the result is a nice, even color of brown. I always keep molasses on hand at The Cookie Jar for this reason. All you have to remember is to mix it with white sugar to get brown sugar.
Directions:
Place the salted butter in a medium-size saucepan on the stovetop. Turn the burner on medium heat and melt the butter.
Once the butter is melted, use a whisk to add the brown sugar to the melted butter. Whisk until the brown sugar and butter are thoroughly combined.
Add the heavy cream to the mixture in your saucepan and continue to whisk until the cream is combined.
With the burner still on MEDIUM heat, whisk until the mixture comes to a boil.
Set a timer for 3 (three) minutes and continue to whisk for EXACTLY 3 (three) minutes.
Pull the saucepan off the heat and over to a cold burner. Then shut off the hot burner. You won’t need it again.
Let the Butterscotch Sauce cool until it comes to room temperature. Then pour it into a glass jar with a lid or a sealed container. Refrigerate your Butterscotch Sauce until you need it. If it’s tightly sealed and refrigerated, it will keep for weeks.
Chapter Three
Hannah stood in back of the breakfast buffet table, watching to see which dishes needed to be replenished. Andrea was several feet from her, by the stacks of pancakes and large pan of crispy bacon. The pan with the breakfast sausages was between them, and Sally stood at the other end, helping to dish up squares of the breakfast bakes the three of them had prepared earlier.
The array of breakfast dishes was impressive. While Hannah and Andrea had baked the cookies they’d need for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, Sally and her kitchen crew had assembled a variety of breakfast bakes, scrambled egg and cheese casseroles, and biscuits. Then, leaving her crew to finish their tasks, Sally had joined Hannah and Andrea to teach them how to make her Caramel Pecan Rolls.
The Caramel Pecan Rolls were not as difficult as Hannah had thought they would be. And the fishermen seemed to love the buttery breakfast treat. So far, Hannah had refilled the large platter three times and it was almost time to do it again. She could understand why more than one contestant had come back for multiple rolls. She’d had one for breakfast once the baking was finished, and they were incredibly good. Despite the fact she’d already eaten one, she’d had to squelch the urge to snatch another every time she’d refilled the platter.
“How’s it going, Hannah?” Sally asked, walking over to her.
“Everything’s going like hotcakes, including the hotcakes.”
Sally laughed. “Very clever, Hannah. How about my Butterscotch Sauce? Are they using it on the pancakes?”
“Yes, and they love it. I think you should serve it every time you make pancakes.”
“Good to know.”
“Your Caramel Pecan Rolls are a huge hit, too.”
“They always are. I wish I could have found my grandmother’s recipe. It was written on the back of an old telephone bill.”
“I hope it was paid.”
“I’m sure it was. My grandfather paid all the bills. He didn’t think that women should handle money.”
“Did your grandmother agree with that?”
“Certainly not, but she never told him that! She had a chicken coop and she sold the eggs.”
“Did your grandfather know about her egg money?”
“Yes, but he didn’t think it was important. Actually, she made quite a bit of money from the eggs, but he never bothered to find out how much.”
“What did she use the money for?”
“For us. My grandparents lived way out in the country and they only went into town once a month. While Grandpa was paying the bills, Grandma used to get groceries and go to the mercantile stores to buy clothes and presents for the grandkids.”
“And that was all right with your grandfather?”
“Oh, yes. It wouldn’t have been all right if she’d worked outside the home, but he felt that farm wives were entitled to their egg money.”
Hannah noticed that a man dressed in fishing clothes was walking up to the podium that had been set up next to the stage Sally used for entertainment. “Is that Sonny?” she asked.
“No, that’s Wally. I’ll introduce you later. Wally’s going to greet the contestants and then he’ll turn things over to Sonny and Joey.”