Hello Everyone,
I am so sorry it’s been a long time since I last posted. As I had mentioned my husband had been deployed since October. He is now back home and so my baking is as of now, back in full swing!
If you celebrate Valentine’s Day, I hope you had a wonderful day/evening. It was awesome to have my husband back home so that we could celebrate. We went to Waikiki and had a nice dinner and walked around.
Let’s talk about these cute, delicious and hard to resist mini peanut butter cheesecakes! Yesterday, the 16th is a special day for my husband and I. 14 years ago on this day, he proposed to me!
We were going out for breakfast to a local hotspot, and I was going to be making a special dinner so a delicious dessert was in order. I love cheesecake, especially mini ones. This recipe is wonderful, the cheesecakes come out very creamy and peanut buttery. The Oreo cookie crust just perfect.
The only thing I would say I would personally change the next time I make them, is the ganache., only because it is very bitter, my husband and I both agreed a sweeter ganache would have been more pleasant on the taste buds.
Other than the ganache, which you could just omit completely, these ARE that good, and you could just make a different ganache, these pretties are a perfect dessert or anytime snack.
- For the crust:
- 1 Cup Chocolate Cookie Crumbs (Oreos)
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- For the cheesecake:
- 12 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream
- ½ Cup Peanut Butter
- ⅔ Cup Sugar
- 1 Large Egg plus 1 Large Egg Yolk, room temperature
- ½ Teaspoon vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Coarse Salt
- For the ganache:
- 4 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Lightly spry your mini cheesecake pan or Lightly spray a 24-well mini muffin pan with cooking spray. To make the crust, combine the chocolate cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a small bowl. Mix with a fork until evenly blended. Divide the crust mixture between the wells of the prepared pan, about 1 tablespoon if using a mini cheesecake pan. If making in mini muffin tin 2-3 teaspoons in each. Press the crumb mixture into a flat layer on the bottom of the well. Bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 300˚ F. To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese, sour cream and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and well blended. Add in the sugar and mix until incorporated, about 1 minute more, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the egg and egg yolk, vanilla and salt. Continue to beat until the mixture is completely smooth. Divide the mixture evenly over the cookie crumb crusts and smooth the tops slightly. Bake just until set, about 15-22 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Once completely cool, transfer the pan to the refrigerator and chill thoroughly, at least 3 hours.
- Once the cheesecakes are well chilled, carefully remove them from the pan. To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, remove from the heat and immediately pour over the chocolate. Let stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk in small circular motions until a smooth ganache has formed. Whisk in the butter until completely incorporated. Let the mixture stand at room temperature until slightly thickened for piping onto the cheesecakes. (Speed this process in the refrigerator or freezer, but be sure to whisk every 10 minutes or so.) Once the ganache has thickened, transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip and pipe onto the cheesecakes. Cover and refrigerate until the ganache is set.
- If you have left over ganache or don't want to put the ganache on right away, you can put it in the fridge, when you want to use, take it out and let it sit for about 1 hour, till it comes to room temperature.
