Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes & Tuesday's Tip of the Day

Chocolate Cheesecakes

8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

4 squares Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

8 oz. Whipped Topping

Oreo Cookies

Strawberries for Garnish

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and chocolate until well blended.

Fold in the whipped topping.

Place 1 cookie on bottom of each paper-lined muffin cup.

Fill evenly with cream cheese mixture.

Refrigerate 2 hours or place in freezer for 1 hour.

Garnish with a dollop of whipped topping and a slice of fruit,

or perhaps some crushed oreo cookies.

Tuesday's Tip of the Day

Short on time?

Create a crust for your dessert by using a prepared cookie.

I use Oreo Cookies for the crust of my Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes.

No need to crush them or  mix them with anything.

I have also used Vanilla Wafers for the crust of Citrus flavored desserts.

There are so many varieties of cookies on the shelf of the supermarket.

Your imagination is your only limit!

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

6 Tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Grease 4 custard cups and place on baking sheet.

Place chocolate chips and butter in glass batter bowl.

Microwave on high for 1 minute, or until butter is melted.

Whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.

Stir in sugar. 

Add whole eggs and egg yolks. Mix well.

Stir in flour.

Pour into prepared custard cups.

Bake 14 minutes or until the sides are firm and centers are still soft.

Let stand 1 minute.

Meanwhile, prepare your dessert plate.

Chocolate syrup, cocoa and powdered sugar.

Carefully, rim the cake with a metal spatula or knife to loosen.

Invert onto dessert plate.

Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Happy Mother's Day.

Valentine Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Sanding sugar

Dove heart chocolates or Hershey's kisses

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, cream together butter and peanut butter. 

Beat in sugars until blended. 

Add eggs and vanilla.

Add flour mixture, beat until well blended.

Chill dough for about 1 hour.

Shape dough into 1" balls, roll in sanding sugar and place 2" apart on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet. (Do not flatten.)

Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 12 minutes. As soon as you remove them from the oven, place either a heart shaped chocolate or Hershey kiss in center of cookie. Press down lightly. Wait about 1 minute and remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Yield: 6 dozen

Tuesday Tip of the Day!

If your recipe calls for melting chocolate in a double boiler and you don't own one, find a heat proof bowl that fits nicely in a saucepan. Add some water in the saucepan (be careful not to add too much - your bowl could overflow the pot), place your bowl with the chocolate on top of the pot, turn up the heat stirring frequently.

Once the chocolate melts you can remove the pan from the heat and remove the bowl from the pan. Just be very careful since there will be steam built up underneath the bowl that can cause a burn.

You can melt your chocolate in the microwave but I find this is not as good as using a double boiler or your own hand designed double boiler :-)

Chocolate Pie

The Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp butter, melted

My favorite appliance for the graham cracker crust is my food processor.

Place the crackers in the processing bowl and with a few pulses of the blade, you have perfect crumbs.

Add sugar and pulse a couple more times to blend thoroughly.

With the processor running, slowly pour the melted butter in through the feeding tube.

Press the crumb mixture into a 9" pie pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes.

Cool completely.

The Chocolate Pudding Pie Filling

1 pkg. (5 oz) Cook and Serve Chocolate Pudding

1 egg

2 1/2 cups milk

Place egg in saucepan. Add milk.

Whisk this together thoroughly.

Add package of chocolate pudding and pie filling.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Be careful not to scorch your pudding.

When the pudding bubbles and thickens, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Spread into cooled crust.

The Whipped Topping

Prepare whipped cream or use a prepared whipped topping.

Add a dollop to each individual serving or

"frost" your entire pie.

This is perfect for summer, 

as you need to have the oven on for just a short time.

This, by the way, is my hubby's all time favorite dessert!