Results - not a pretty picture but they taste okay

OK, both of the cheesecakes have had time to cool and set, and I've tasted both.  
Now to analyze what happened. 

The watermelon cheesecakes over cooked for one, and the white chocolate managed to separate and melt into the cupcake liner. 
Note to self, monitor cooking time better. Also, ginger snaps not a good idea for crusts. 

The creamsicle are too heavily orange, in flavor and color. Better control on the pastry bag should cover one issue, the flavoring issue should work itself out in larger batches. 

Now I have to create a new batch for the holiday dinner at work - I think I'm going to go back to my basics, except that I'm using a shortbread for the crusts this time. I don't foresee doing more than 24 this time, which means basically a half batch. 

A little less muss and fuss, but it also means just one batch in the oven instead of multiples. 
Yay. 

Rainy Monday Cheesecake Experiment

So I've been kicking a couple of cheesecake concepts around in my head for a couple of weeks now.
Watermelon white chocolate chip and orange creamsicle. 
This was only because I came across some old flavorings I  bought a couple of years ago - but it did get me to thinking about cheesecake variations. 
So, I'm whipping up experimental batches today. 
By that, I mean that I'm doing a limited run of these to determine if the recipe is valid. 
I plan to dye the batter red/pink for the watermelon, and orange for the creamsicle. 

Since I'm doing the Paula Deen adaptation, (i.e. mini cheesecakes) instead of a full spring-form pan version, I'll have results in under an hour. 

For posterity's sake, here's my basic 1/4 batch recipe: 

1 brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar
vanilla extract 
1/4 - 1/3 cup sour cream or
1 tbs whipping cream 

Cream all ingredients together until they become a batter. 
At this point, for the watermelon, I plan to add the flavoring and the food dye, mixing until incorporated and I'm satisfied. Then fold in the white chocolate chips, portion into already prepared muffin tin, bake at 350 until set and voila. 

For the creamsicle, I'll split the batter and add flavoring and dye to one half and massively up the vanilla for the plain part. 
Prepped muffin tins will get a layer of the "plain" batter then the orange batter, swirl with a butter knife, again baking at 350 until set and voila. 

Conceptually, I'm putting lemon crisps instead of vanilla wafers in the creamsicle, and debating gingersnaps vs vanilla wafers in the watermelon. 

I like the idea of the ginger and watermelon and white chocolate together.  

Okay, I have the creamsicle flavor in the oven even as I type. 
Short break to clean up and get ready for the big experiment, watermelon cheesecake. 
Discovered that the Orange extract may not be the way to go for the creamsicle, only baking will tell conclusively though. 
Also for the crusts I went with a mini vanilla wafer on top of a lemon crisp. 

So now for the watermelon, I plan on dyeing the batter pink/red and the white chocolate chips will represent the seeds. Thought about dark chocolate, but think better match with white. 

I'm going with the ginger snap crust on the watermelon. I think it'll meld well. 

The creamsicles are out of the oven and the watermelon are in. 
They'll be ready for taste testing in about an hour. 
Unexpected issues with the extract though. It didn't want to combine with the batter. 
Well, got that problem solved by kicking up the mixer a few notches. 
Tasted okay as a batter, but again, the proof is in the baking. 

Halfway point. 
A little more rise than I'd expected, however that may be due to the amount of whipping I did to get the extract incorporated. 
Wait and see. 

Okay, they're out of the oven now. 
Smell fantastic. However, they have to set and cool. 
More after taste test.