Black Forest Cheesecake Cupcakes

These turned out excellent, I was very pleaed with these. Some words of advice when making these, you can fill the cups almost all the way up. These cheesecakes do not swell too much, so you do not have to worry about them overflowing.

Total Tme: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Crust:
12 Oreo's
1 1/2 Tbsp of Butter

Cheesecake Filling:
4.5 oz (3/4 cup) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup of sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt
12 oz of soften cream cheese
2 large eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
 1/4 cup sour cream

Topping:
Store bought(canned0 cherry pie filling
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
In large mixing bowl blend together Oreo's and melted butter.
Divide the mixture evenly between 12 baking cups.
Press cookie mixture into a even layer
Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven and allow for cooling.

In mixing bowl, mix together sugar, cocoa and salt until no clumps remain
Add cream cheese to the mixing bowl and with electric hand mixer combine together until mixture is smooth. Make sure cream cheese is softened.
Add one egg to mixture and combine until fully combined
Add second egg and vanilla, then mix.
Melt 3/4 cup of chocolate chip, let cool, then add to mixture and combine
Add heavy cream and sour cream until all ingredients are fully combined.
Forcefully tap bowl on counter about 30 times to release air bubbles.
Scope mixture into baking cups, filling close to top
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, I had to bake mine for 25 minutes. The main thing is to make sure they are not gooey on the inside.
After cupcakes are baked, let cool for 1 hour
Store in air tight container in refrigerate at least 2 hours before adding topping.

In mixing bowl, mix heavy cream on low to medium speed until soft peaks form.
Add in sugar and vanilla, mix until stiff peaks form.

Spread mixture on to cupcakes leaving a small indention in the middle
Scoop cherry filling on to middle of cupcake.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

I am over the moon that I decided to make this cheesecake, I had hesitation because of the complexity but I am more then pleased with my results. This recipe came from Baked by Rachel her blog can be found at www.bakedbyrachel.com. I am going to give the recipe on how I made this cake along with pictures and some comments that might help a beginning baker along. 

 

Total time: All day project, this item takes about 60 minutes to prepare but requires several baking and chilling intervals so it took up about 12 hours of a Saturday to complete.

Shopping List:

This recipe requires a 9 inch springform pan and large roasting can, I did not have either of these so they had to be purchased. I have needed springform pan before so decided it was a good $12.00 investment. As for the roasting pan I just bought a throw away roast pan for $2.00.

For this recipe it is broken down into 3 parts, crust, filling and mouse topping. Peppermint bark is also required but I bought it instead of making it. For the peppermint bark recipe go to the original recipe at www.bakedbyrachel.com.

Crust:

2 cups of crushed Oreo's(about 24) 

3 tbsp of butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Line the springform pan with foil, I crisscrossed two large pieces of foil to cover the whole pan. This will help you remove the cake later.

3. In a blender or food processor blend together Oreo's, I blended about four at a time and continued till I had to cups.

4. Add 3 tbsp of butter to Oreo's until well blended.

5. Pour mixtures into pan and press to form bottom by using flat bottom cup. 

6. Bake of 10 minutes then remove to cool. 

Cheesecake Filling: 

3-8oz packages of cream cheese 

1 cup sugar 

4 oz white chocolate 

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream 

1/4 tsp salt 

2 tsp of peppermint extract 

3 eggs 

2 bars of Ghirardelli peppermint bark 

1. In electric mixer, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. 

2. Melt 4 oz of white chocolate in microwave safe bowl, every 30 second stir chocolate. 

3. Add melted chocolate, flour, heavy cream, salt, peppermint extract and eggs into cream cheese mixture until smooth. 

4. Pour in chopped pieces of peppermint bark by hand until mixed well.

5. Transfer filling into form over crust.

6. Place spring form pan in large roasting pan. 

7. Fill roasting pan with hot water until it reaches about half way up spring form pan.

8. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. I should have cooked mine longer so make sure filling is done before turning off oven. Leave in closed oven with oven off for one hour. 

9. Remove from oven and let cool for one hour.

10. Chill cake in fridge for 4 hours or overnight before adding mousse topping. 

Mousse:

1/2 cup cool whip

4 oz of cream cheese

2 oz white chocolate 

1 1/2 tbsp of sugar 

1/2 tbsp of vanilla 

1. Remove cake from spring form pan.

2. Melt white chocolate 

3. Combine all ingredients together until smooth 

4. Spread mousse evenly over cake

5. Chill at least 4 hours 

6. Decorate cakes with chocolate shavings or anything else you'd like 

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Total time: 90 minutes

Shopping List: 

Graham Cracker Crust 

3- 8oz packages of cream cheese 

1 cup of sugar 

1 tsp of vanilla 

1 cup canned pumpkin 

3 eggs 

1/2 tsp. of cinnamon 

1/4 tsp. of nutmeg 

1/4 tsp. of allspice 

Directions: 

1. Bake crust at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, I buy my crust but you can make it.

2. Combine soften cream cheese ( I leave mine out for about 4 hours), sugar and vanilla. Combine with electric mix until smooth and creamy.

3. Combine pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to cream cheese mixture until combined and smoothed.

4. Pour until crust.

5. Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes until lightly browned.

6. After chilled, refrigerate until ready to serve.

Beginning

I am always baking, sometimes cooking but mostly baking. I have a love for baking, sometimes it feels like I have to do but mostly I enjoy it because I learn new things. So I decided that maybe I would start to share my successes and fails with everyone on my cooking experience. Sometimes I just make recipes up, but mostly my baking projects come from Pinterest. So with the holiday season here I am going to be making three different  cheesecake items in the next week including Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake which is a Cheesecake Factory Copy Cat recipe, Peppermint Bark Cheesecake, and Black Forest Cheesecake Cupcakes! So as I make these in the up coming days expect pictures, recipes, tips and failures to follow.