Some people sit down on the couch with their laptop at the end of the day to relax and read the news. Others surf for fashion advice, beauty aids, makeup, eye wrinkle cream and shoes. Purses, puppies and pillowcases do nothing for me, but when I open my email to see a recipes newsletter with photos and recipes like a Peppermint Cheesecake Bite... mmmm, now that's exciting and fun!If you have old Sunset or similar magazines from the early 2000's you may have seen this one or other recipes that are very, very close to this one in other cooking magazines from the heartland. Either way I wanted to tuck this one away to make very, very soon.
Peppermint Cheesecake Bites
Crust:
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs (such as Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers; about 22 cookies)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking spray
Filling:
12 hard peppermint candies, divided
2/3 cup (5 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 (8-ounce) carton low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 cup frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
2 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles
Preheat oven to 325°.
To prepare crust, combine the first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Press about 1 1/2 teaspoons crumb mixture into the bottom of each of 48 mini muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 5 minutes.
To prepare the filling, place 6 candies, fat-free cream cheese and the next 6 ingredients (fat-free cream cheese through sour cream) in a food processor; process until smooth. Stir in minichips and peppermint extract. Divide the filling evenly among prepared crusts. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes or until done. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove mini cheesecakes from pans, and cool completely. Top each mini cheesecake with 1 teaspoon whipped topping. Crush the remaining 6 candies; sprinkle the crushed candies and chocolate sprinkles over the cheesecakes.
