Orange goat cheese cheesecakes with pomegranate syrup

I’m doing something a little unusual tonight. A late-nightpost. It’s like my very own late night talk show “The Late Post with JellyToast”. Oh, that actually rhymed. I’m a poet and don’t know it. I apologize forthat last line. I’m feeling a little punchy because I seem to be eating onpiece of candy for every two I pass out. Yes, watch out, I am multitasking bypassing out candy and writing this post at the same time. Two birds, baby, two birds.

It does seem abit quiet around here, though, and I am wondering if it’s the crummy weather thathas held off many of the little monsters and zombies or just that I seem to beeating all of their candy before they can get to it.  It’s a question without an answer.

Speaking of zombies, my favorite costume pair so far hasbeen Officer Rick Grimes and his ‘walker’ companion. It’s as if this pair knewI was knee deep in a season two marathon of ‘The Walking Dead’ and just wantedto make me smile. Thanks, Rick, I appreciate it. And, Rick? I have to tell you,I was just as shocked about the barn full of walkers as you were. Head-sewn-to-the-carpetkind of shocked.

I love checking out the costumes and sizing up the level ofdedication of each trick-or-treater. Frankly, if you are under legal drinkingage, are wearing a costume, and say ‘trick-or-treat’ and ‘thank you’, you canhave as much candy as you want. Unless the amount you want is more than mydesignated limit of two pieces per treater. Then you need to move on to thenext house.

I never really understood why some folks don’t likeHalloween. I mean, what’s more fun than spending a night dressed up as someoneelse and going around collecting free sugar? I don’t know that there’s muchelse that could be better. Oh, be right back, I have another trick or treater…

Huh, that was unexpected. A bloody sock monkey. I’ve neverseen one of those before.

Anyhoo…let me casually segue into speaking about thesedelightful little cheesecakes. The inspiration for these cheesecakes came from brilliantand talented Helene of Tartelette. I have been a HUGE fan of Tartelette for along time and am forever drawn into her beautiful photos and sugar ladentreats. She never disappoints. If you aren’t familiar with her work, I urge youto go and take a look. I am positive you will not regret it.

Anyways a couple months ago I made her lemon goat cheesecheesecakes and since then, my life has not been the same. They were tangy andcreamy and sweet and absolutely everything I could have wanted in a dessert.Even without chocolate-as I am typically a chocoholic-these cakes were utterperfection.  I was unable to stop at onebite – or one cheesecake for that matter. You think the individual serving sizewould’ve helped me control myself, but alas, no. I told myself ‘listen, there’sonly eight, so I might as well enjoy them’. And I did. So much so, that I madethem again.

So for Halloween I thought I would dress-up Helene’s amazingperfect lemon goat cheese cheesecakes with a little bit of a Halloween/Fall/Wintercostume. The winter part of the costume was inspired by this drippy, coldweather. I was thinking of Fall fruits, and I first thought of apples, butquickly scratched that idea. Then I thought of pomegranates. Perfect.

A few years ago, my brother-in-law made this unexpectedappetizer with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds. That was it. A log of goatcheese covered in pomegranate seeds. Sounds crazy simple, but trust me, thestuff was amazing. Dip a pretzel in it or spread it on a cracker. The goatcheese and pomegranate flavors were a match made in tasty heaven. Pomegranatealso happens to go swimmingly with orange, so I figured I would swap the lemonfor orange and top each little cake with a sweet pomegranate syrup. Thesecheesecakes had to be good. And let me tell you, they were. So here’s my dressedup for Halloween version of Helene’s brilliant lemon goat cheese cheesecakes.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

 Orange Goat Cheese Cheesecakes with Pomegranate Syrup

Adapted from Tartelette

Makes 8 mini cheesecakes(in 8 6oz ramekins or 1/2 pint mason jars)

For the crust:

1cup crushed graham cracker crumbs (I used cinnamon)

4tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

¼cup of sugar

For the filling:

8oz fresh mild goat cheese, at room temperature

8oz cream cheese, at room temperature

juiceand zest of 1 medium orange

3large eggs

For pomegranate syrup:

1cup of sugar

1cup of water

Seedsfrom one pomegranate

Directions:

Preheatthe oven to 325F and position a rack in the middle. Place 8-6 oz ramekins or 8 ½pint mason jars in a large roasting pan.

For crust: In a medium bowl, stirtogether the graham cracker crumbs, the melted butter and sugar. Divide themixture evenly among the ramekins and pat down with a spoon or honey drizzler (thisworks really well if you have one). Bake for 5 minutes, remove from oven andlet cool. Lower the heat to 300F.

For filling: In the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together sugar, cheeses andorange zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time making sure youincorporate them well after each one. Add the orange juice and beat another 30seconds. Divide the mixture evenly among the ramekins. Add enough hot water tothe roasting pan to come up about 1 inch on the sides of the ramekins.

Bakethe mini cheesecakes for 20-22 minutes or until still slightly wiggly in thecenters. Let them cool and garnish them with pomegranate syrup, crushed grahamcrackers and a few extra pomegranate seeds.

For syrup: In a small sauce pan,combine water, sugar and pomegranate seeds and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Allow syrup to cool completely in the pan. Strain out and discard seeds and serve syrup on top of cheesecakes. Refrigerate any unused syrup in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

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