Chocolate and Orange Mini Cheesecakes
Chocolate and Orange Mini Cheesecakes
These cheesecakes might be small, but they are loaded with flavor. Chocolate graham crackers are used to make the crust. If you don’t have chocolate graham crackers, chocolate cookie crumbs would work, too.
The cheesecake filling is flavored with both vanilla and orange zest. I topped them with fresh mandarin oranges, tossed in a light sugar syrup.
These mini cheesecakes are a wonderful dessert for any time. An added bonus, they are pretty easy to make. You can whip up a batch in no time at all.
They puff up when they are in the oven. Once the cheesecakes cool down, they will sink in the middle a little. That is normal. I look at the little indent as the place to put the toppings.
You can top with other fruit, too. I made these for friends recently and topped with both oranges and strawberries. You could also top with whipped cream, if you like.
They also freeze well.
Orange and Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes
8 chocolate graham crackers
3 T. butter, melted
2 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
½ c. sugar
2 t. orange zest
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
4 or 5 mandarin oranges
4 T. sugar
3 T. water
Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside. Crush graham crackers into crumbs- you should end up with about a cup of crumbs, or a bit more. Place crumbs in small mixing bowl. Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs, and toss to distribute the butter evenly. Spoon a rounded tablespoon of the crumb mixture into each of the paper lined muffin tins. Press firmly on the crumb mixture. I used the bottom of a small glass to press the crumb mixture down. Set aside. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, zest and vanilla for 1 minute with electric mixer. Beat in the eggs until just mixed in. Divide this mixture in the muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees. While cheesecakes are baking, prepare oranges. Peel oranges and break apart into segments (sections). You will need 36 segments in all. In small pan, boil together sugar and water for two minutes. Place orange segments in a small bowl and pour the sugar syrup over them, tossing gently to coat. Set aside to cool down. Place three orange segments on top of each cooled down cheesecake. Makes 12. Serves 6.
Topped with oranges and strawberries
