I was told that Mom-Mom used to make rows of mini cheesecakes for parties years back. She would decorate each mini cheesecake with cherry filling, blueberry filling and pineapple filling and line the little cakes up on a serving tray.

With her recipe in mind and with late spring and summer holidays fast approaching, why not create my take on Mom-Mom’s dessert?

One of my favorite baking times of year is when summer berries and seasonal fruits like blueberries and peaches will be coming into season.

This recipe is light, lower in fat, super easy, pretty and delicious.

These mini cupcake-sized cheesecakes are a fun dessert for the family to make for dessert on Mother’s Day weekend.

Mini berry cheesecakes

Crust

1¼ cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

A pinch of salt

2 tablespoons sugar

Set out all of your refrigerated ingredients, to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt the unsalted butter and then mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Pat a little of the graham cracker mixture into each cupcake tin which have been lined with regular-sized cupcake papers. Gently yet firmly tap the cracker crust down, evenly dividing up the crust mixture only on the bottom of each cupcake paper.

Bake off the crusts for 5-7 minutes in a 325 degrees Fahrenheit oven. Set aside to cool completely.

Cheesecake batter

4 8-ounce packs of Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese or 2 8-ounce packs of Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese and 16 ounces of low-fat cottage cheese which has been drained overnight, covered

1 cup low-fat yogurt

1½ cups sugar

3 large eggs

The fresh zest of a lemon

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Fresh seasonal berries or fruits, garnish

A little bit of apricot jam, optional fruit glaze

Keep the oven on 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a small oven-safe dish or pan, halfway filled with water, on the lower rack of your oven.

In your food processor, place in your strained cottage cheese first (if using cottage cheese). Process for 1-2 minutes until silky, scraping down the bowl.

Once the cottage cheese is smooth and silky, add in the cream cheese and sugar. Process again, until all is smooth. This should take about a minute or two only.

Add in your eggs, one at a time, while the processor is running. Stop the machine.

Scrape the processor bowl down. Then add your cornstarch, pure vanilla extract and fresh lemon zest. Pulse for a second or two. Scrape the bowl. Evenly spoon the batter on top of each little cake crust.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the centers very slightly jiggle.

Place each filled hot cupcake pan on cooling racks, taking the cheesecakes out of the pan(s) when they are cool.

Yields approximately 24 cupcake-sized cheesecakes.

Top with seasonal fresh berries, fruits.

Baker’s note: I heat up some apricot jam with a splash of water in a small skillet. I strain it, and when cool, I pour it over the fruit to produce a nice shiny glazed fresh fruit topping.