Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

Amanda requested chocolate cheesecake and I'm glad she did! I have to say these were outrageous! I enjoyed them so I was happy to share at dinner out with the girls to welcome Amanda's visit from Berkeley. One day we will have to visit!

I made half of them with foil liners and and the other half with paper liners just to compare. They both came out great. They both tasted the same and there was only one visual difference. All of these pictures are cupcakes made with foil liners because they are a bit more pretty around the edges. The foil creates deeper, defined edges to give that Reese's peanut butter cup look. But if you only have paper liners, they still look very appetizing.

I used my usual chocolate ganache recipe and just whipped it to add volume and piped it on top for the completed look. I used dark bittersweet chocolate (60%) for the ganache just so these aren't overly sweet.

I'm happy this recipe makes quite a few cupcakes, 26 to be exact. I had enough to share on Thanksgiving with my family, brother, and sister-in-law. And now allow me to post way too many pictures just because I couldn't choose which to edit out. Make these, and enjoy!

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

Yield: 26 cupcakes

Crust

1 cup crushed graham crackers (about 9 graham crackers)

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons butter, melted

24 foil or paper cupcake liners

Filling

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

4 eggs

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Melt the 2 cups (12 ounces) of semisweet chocolate chips in a glass bowl or glass measuring cup in the microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir. Set aside to cool.

Use a food processor or blender to crush graham crackers. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and cocoa; stir in butter. Line a cupcake/muffin tin with 24 cupcake liners. Press 1 tablespoon of crust mixture onto the bottom of each liner. Remember that you will have 2 tablespoons of mixture left for two extra cupcakes. Set aside.

Heat oven to 300° F

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in melted chocolate. Add eggs one at a time; beat on low speed just until combined.Gradually stir in milk and vanilla. Pour 1/4 cup of filling into each cupcake liner.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the center does not look wet. Turn off oven and open oven door to slowly cool cheesecake for 20-30 minutes, which will prevent cracks. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.  Once cool, place in the refrigerator to chill. Remove cupcake liners after chilled.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

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 until chilled)  Once the ganache has thickened and completely cooled, beat with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk head attachment. Whisk until the chocolate is whipped. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip and pipe onto the cheesecakes.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie. Nostalgia. I like how I only bake this once a year. I also like how as soon as I flip my  calendar to October that all my favorite blogs already have pumpkin this and pumpkin that. I wish every month had it's own unique ingredient. 

Let me just say that I was fasting when I baked these pies. I'm going to say that is why I misread the directions. And burnt the first pie. Yes, it's true, I burnt a pie. Look at that. Go ahead, point and laugh.

Apparently I overlooked the part where you need to reduce the oven temperature. I'm just so glad I had an extra crust and can of pumpkin to make another pie for Nadijah.

We still ate the burnt pie. It wasn't that bad actually. It just wasn't as creamy and soft. I was so glad when both these pies were finally gone. All I wanted to do everyday was eat pie. And I did. 

Pumpkin Pie

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin (about 2 cups)
1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Heat oven to 425°F.

Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1-inch from crust comes out clean. Cool.

*If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, you can substitute with:
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pumpkin Gingersnap Truffles

I made these for a bittersweet goodbye to our friend, Mona. Maybe one day I'll follow her to San Diego! But for now, we are all going to miss her so much! I've known her for many years and I just want to thank her for being my friend and for being who she is. Even the little things she would say would leave a lasting impression on me. Mona, you help shape me to to be the person I want to be. You uplift, support, and encourage me and those around you. Your happiness brings out mine and we wish you all the love and joy you deserve!

I loved to see that the girls enjoyed these, but I actually liked the previous pumpkin truffles better! These had a very strong ginger flavor from the cookies, but if you adore ginger, then go ahead and use the gingersnap cookies. Otherwise, I would stick to the golden oreos! I did like the dark chocolate coating on these though!

Pumpkin Gingersnap Truffles

Adapted from Simply Designing with Ashley
Yield: 25 truffles

Ingredients

10 oz package of gingersnap cookies
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp orange zest
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of salt
12 oz chocolate candy coating or almond bark
mini cupcake liners

Directions

Place the cookies in the food processor or blender and pulse into fine crumbs. Add next 7 ingredients and pulse to combine. Transfer to a bowl and place in freezer for about 30-45 minutes until firm enough to roll into balls. Or place in refrigerator if you not making them right away.

Roll mixture into balls and place on a plate. Return to freezer for at least 20 minutes or more.

Melt chocolate candy coating and place in a small mug or teacup. Dip truffles into chocolate and place inside mini cupcake liners. They should harden within a few minutes. Eat right away or within a few hours. Otherwise, store in fridge.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Nadijah needed cheesecake. 

And even though she requested other flavors, I made her eat peanut butter cheesecake. Haha, because I think it's been over two and a half years since I made peanut butter cheesecake. And as you can tell from this blog, I love peanut butter. Previously, I made these into mini bite size cupcakes.

Cheesecake is my favorite food and if it had zero calories and fat I would eat it every single day. So to me, this is like one of the best desserts you could ever make. Try it!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake
Adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients

1 cup Peanut Butter Oreo cookie crumbs
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
24 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Directions

To make the crust, blend about 10 whole cookies in a blender or food processor to make one cup of crumbs. Combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter and mix with a fork until evenly blended. Press the crumb mixture into a flat layer on the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Set aside or inside refrigerator until ready to use.

Set oven temperature to 325˚ 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 eggs, vanilla and salt.  Continue to beat until the mixture is completely smooth.  Pour into prepared crust.

Bake until center of cheesecake is set, about 45-50 minutes. Turn off oven and open oven door to slowly cool cheesecake for 20-30 minutes, which will prevent cracks. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.  Once cool, place in the refrigerator and chill thoroughly, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Ganache Drizzle

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

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.

Pumpkin Oreo Truffle Pops

I was planning to do peanut butter oreo truffles for Eid but since its October, I decided to go with pumpkin.

The truffle pops I made for last Eid tasted like cake pops but this pumpkin version actually tasted like truffles. Because the inside was much softer and gooey.

They would be over the top amazing if I used a dark chocolate coating instead of vanilla. Better flavor contrast. Mmm. The best tip I can give when making these is to be sure to dip your stick in the candy coating about 1/4 inch up the stick before inserting into the truffle. And then freeze them until firm. Makes it easier when you coat all sides with your candy melts.

Pumpkin Oreo Truffle Pops

Adapted from Bake Something
Yield: 28 truffles

Ingredients

1 package (14.5 oz) of Golden Oreo cookies

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
12 oz. package candy melts or almond bark or coating chocolate

lolipop sticks

mini cupcake liners

plastic treat bags

7 yards of ribbon

Directions

Dump the entire package of oreos in your food processor. Process until they are fine crumbs. Add softened cream cheese, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice and blend until its all mixed together. Refrigerate until firm, about two hours.

Roll into balls the size of a tablespoon and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes. 

Melt your candy coating in a double broiler by placing a heat-safe bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Take the end of the lolipop stick and dip it into the melted candy coating, about 1/4 inch up the stick. Insert stick into the center of a truffle, be careful not to go all the way through the other side. Return truffles to the freezer for about 5 more minutes so that the coating can firm up.

Put some of your melted candy coating in a short cup or mug and dip the truffle pop to coat all sides. Allow to set up on a plate lined with parchment paper.

Stick the mini cupcake liner inside your treat bag first. Cut each piece of ribbon to be 8 inches long. Place the truffle pop inside and tie with a bow.

Cheesecake filled Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I came across this in Michaels and being that I loved Ace of Cakes, I wanted to try Duff's boxed cake mix to see if its alot better than the others. It was, but still tasted like it came from a box. Still much better than Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, and worth it if you are in a hurry. But I must try it from scratch next time!

Since its from a box, I jazzed it up and made cheesecake batter to fill them and my favorite cream cheese icing. This cream cheese frosting is awesome. It's so great when you add the heavy cream.

Cheesecake filled Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 22 cupcakes

Cheesecake

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Blend the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer until combined. Add eggs and extract. Blend until smooth, do not overmix. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Red Velvet Cake

Make your favorite recipe or use a box

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Fill cupcake liners with one tablespoon red velvet cake batter. Top with 2 tablespoons cheesecake batter. Finally, top with one tablespoon red velvet cake batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of red velvet cake comes out clean. The cheesecake may still be gooey, which is fine.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp clear vanilla extract

3 tbsp heavy or whipping cream

Directions

Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a medium sized bowl with the mixer on high speed.  Add the sugar and vanilla, beating until smooth.  With the mixer running, gradually add the cream and beat until the frosting looks whipped and creamy. Add a little more cream if necessary until it’s easy to spread. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Sorry for the crappy phone quality picture but these cupcakes did not deserve their own personal photo shoot with Mr. Canon.

Okay, sorry cupcakes. It was not your fault. I take the blame. I used expired baking powder. The result? Flat. No volume. No fluffy, rounded top cupcakes. What's annoying is that I knew the baking powder was expired, thought I tested it properly, still used it, and made the ugliest cupcakes to serve my cousin visiting all the way from Canada. She was nice enough to cut off all the flat tops. They were so flat that when we peeked inside the oven, it looked like cookies on a sheet pan instead of rounded cupcake tops.

I'm guessing that's why the peanut butter buck-eye center went flat and hollow, though I don't see why it had to. It was unusually soft for buck-eye candy. I would probably go with this recipe next time, without melting the butter or peanut butter. The frosting was the only saving grace for these cupcakes. Although delicious, I could hardly taste the cream cheese, so I'll post the recipe below with less peanut butter.

Enjoy this GIF of me piping frosting.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Cake recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Filling recipe from Annie's Eats. Frosting recipe: me.
Yield: 26 cupcakes

Peanut Butter Filling
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined.  Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and fridge until ready to use. If they are too soft, add some extra powdered sugar or graham cracker crumbs.

Chocolate Cake
1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 ½ cups sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven. Prepare your muffin pans with cupcake liners.

Blend together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low to medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Pour into cupcake liner until 2/3 full. Place a ball of the peanut butter filling in each cupcake. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the chocolate cake comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting
16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
4 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until smooth.  Slowly mix in the confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth and well blended. 

Golden Oreo Truffles

This really is the easiest dessert recipe ever so I made a small batch to share with our friends this evening. We went out to Green Vegetarian Cuisine downtown by the riverwalk and I had a tasty spinach artichoke quesadilla. Unfortunately though, I forgot my tray of truffles on the counter and I didn't get to share them. :(

There are so many oreo flavors these days. I would love to try peanut butter oreo truffles.

One variation I would love to try with golden oreo truffles is to add key lime juice or maybe lime zest. Its supposed to taste like a key lime pie truffle.

I would suggest not to add as much cream cheese if you are making golden oreo truffles. I think the cookie crumbs are slightly more moist than the original chocolate oreos.

Golden Oreo Truffle Pops

Yield: 15 truffles

20 Golden Oreo cookies

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

6 oz. candy melts or almond bark or white chocolate

mini cupcake liners

Directions

Blend the oreos in your food processor. Process until they are fine crumbs. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the crumbs and set aside. Add your softened cream cheese and blend until its all mixed together. 

Roll into balls the size of a tablespoon and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes. 

Melt your candy coating in a double broiler by placing a heat-safe bowl over a small pot of simmering water.

Put your melted candy coating in a short cup or mug and dip the truffle to coat all sides. Sprinkle with reserved oreo crumbs on top and allow to set up on a plate lined with parchment paper.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

I made this fresh summer snack for a get-together with some lovely ladies.

These are so simple to make, and taste like a mini bite of strawberry cheesecake.

I decided to add some heavy cream because I wanted that strawberries-and-cream kind of undertone along with the cheesecake flavor. I also made mine a little sweeter which I highly recommend. :)

You don't have to pipe the cream with a star tip, even though its an easy way to make it look so pretty. You could just put in a plastic bag and cut off the end. 

You know what would make these over the top? Dip them in chocolate. Omg. Maybe next time.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Recipe adapted from The Sweets Life and Nutmeg Nanny

Ingredients
1 lb large strawberries

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 graham cracker

Directions

Process the graham cracker in a blender to make fine crumbs.

Rinse strawberries and cut off the tops. Core out the inside with a paring knife. Try to find large strawberries because most of them have a nice hollow center. If you want to stand your strawberries upright slice a bit off the bottom to make a flat surface (I didn't do this).

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla with a mixer and beat until creamy. Beat in heavy cream. Add cream cheese mix to piping bag and fill strawberries. Once strawberries are filled dip the top in graham cracker crumbs. Devour and fall in love.

You could also drizzle or dip strawberries in chocolate if desired.

Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Oreo Truffle Pops

I wanted to make little Ramadan favors when we had our girls iftar. I got too busy with cupcakes, but I'm glad I at least got to make these for Eid! 

Here's one of those "everything you need" pictures! I never take one of these but this recipe is so easy to make, all you need is a few things. (I forgot to add the paper liners in this picture).

The smell of oreos. Nothing is more tempting when you're fasting!

Dump the entire package of oreos in your food processor.

Process until they are fine crumbs.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the crumbs and set aside.

Add your softened cream cheese

and blend until its all mixed together

Roll into balls the size of a tablespoon and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes. 

Melt your candy coating in a double broiler by placing a heat-safe bowl over a small pot of simmering water. I bought vanilla flavored Wilton white candy melts from Michaels. It tasted just like white chocolate and hardened very nicely!

Take the end of the lolipop stick and dip it into the melted candy coating, about 1/4 inch up the stick. Don't be shy, we want enough on there rather than too little. Stick it about half way through the oreo truffle. Return to the freezer for about 5 more minutes so that the coating can firm up. This trick really helps your lolipop stick stay in place.

(Didn't get a picture for this step) Put some of your melted candy coating in a short cup or mug and dip the truffle to coat all sides.

Sprinkle with reserved oreo crumbs on all sides and allow to set up on a plate lined with parchment paper. Try to work as fast as you can so that the oreo truffles stay cold which helps the lolipop stick stay in place. If you want to take your time, I suggest keeping half in the freezer while you work on dipping and coating the others!

If you wanted the tops to stay round, you need a piece of Styrofoam so that they can stand up. 

If you have pretty mini cupcake liners, you don't have to worry about your pops having a flat top

Stick the liner inside your treat bag first

Make some cute tags

I found some ribbon (top) that looks just like an oreo cookie!

Cut each piece of ribbon to be 8 inches long. You can make 27 bows with 6 yards of ribbon.

You could tie the bag with this look if you didn't have a tag

Or you could tie a bow without a tag

But if you do have a tag, stick it on one side of the ribbon...

and then firmly tie a bow!

Oreo Truffle Pops

Yield: 33 truffles

1 large package of Oreo cookies, about 45 cookies (family size)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

12 oz. package candy melts or almond bark

lolipop sticks

mini cupcake liners

plastic treat bags

6 yards of ribbon

decorative tags (optional)

Directions

Dump the entire package of oreos in your food processor. Process until they are fine crumbs. Reserve 1/4 cup of the crumbs and set aside. Add your softened cream cheese and blend until its all mixed together. 

Roll into balls the size of a tablespoon and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes. 

Melt your candy coating in a double broiler by placing a heat-safe bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Take the end of the lolipop stick and dip it into the melted candy coating, about 1/4 inch up the stick. Insert stick into the center of a truffle, be careful not to go all the way through the other side. Return truffles to the freezer for about 5 more minutes so that the coating can firm up.

Put some of your melted candy coating in a short cup or mug and dip the truffle pop to coat all sides.Sprinkle with reserved oreo crumbs on all sides and allow to set up on a plate lined with parchment paper.

Stick the mini cupcake liner inside your treat bag first. Cut each piece of ribbon to be 8 inches long. Place the truffle pop inside and tie with a bow.