Valentine’s Day!
Some people love it, some might think it’s dumb, but if nothing else, it warrents festive baking! Anything red, pink, heart-shaped, or anything else, err, romantic (read: sappy) is considered appropriate. I had a few ideas, but decided on THESE!
Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes with an Oreo Crust & Mascarpone Whipped Cream!!
Making an Oreo crust here was sooo necessary. At least for the chocoholics out there. And, I mean, Valentine’s Day = Chocolate, right? I had extra Oreo crust, so I sprinkled that on top too! Extra Oreos? om YUM! The Mascarpone Whipped Cream, too, was CLUTCH! I’ve made it before as the topping on my Red Wine Cupcakes. I don’t think I’ll ever make regular whipped cream again; this just tastes so much better!
I made these in my mini muffin pans, so they’re 2-3 bites each max. The perfect size for a small treat, sampling, or sweet ending to any great meal and night.
See the layers?!
Now, technically, if you wanted to just make these for any occasion, you could just leave out the red food coloring! They’d be a light chocolate color, so there would still be the color contrast in the layers, though just a bit more subtle. (Dark Oreo crust, light chocolate cheesecake, and then the white Mascarpone Whipped Cream.)
I stayed up super late on Wednesday night making these. They’re pretty time consuming, but absolutely work the effort! They were amazing!! So happy.
I brought a bunch on them into work on Valentine’s Day, kept some in my fridge (you know, for me & my roomie), and brought the rest to a party that weekend! A sweet treat for all involved 🙂
Make something special– try them out!
Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes with an Oreo Crust and Mascarpone Whipped Cream!
Makes about 100 mini cheesecakes
Mascarpone Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup (8oz) mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Place all whipped cream ingredients in a large bowl. Beat on high with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Scoop the batter into a pipping bag or plastic bag fitted with a pipping tip. Seal the bag and place in the fridge until you’re ready to frost.
Oreo Crust
Ingredients:
35 Oreo Cookies
1 stick butter, melted
Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line mini muffin pans with mini muffin liners.
2) Put the Oreos in a food processor and chop until only crumbs remain. Add in the melted butter and continue to processor until the butter is evenly distributed.
3) Press about 1 teaspoon of the crumbs mixture into each muffin cup. I used a regular teaspoon to scoop in the mixture, and then the bottom of a shot glass to smoosh the crust together and press it into the bottom in the liner.
4) Bake in preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Set them aside until you’re ready to fill them with cheesecake.
Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Three (3) 8oz blocks of cream cheese
2 cups sour cream
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted (1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons)
3 Tablespoons red food coloring
3 eggs
Directions:
1) Keep the oven set at 350 degrees F.
2) In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and sour cream and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Add in the sugar and vanilla and beat again. Add in the cocoa powder and the red food coloring. and continue to mix. Finally, add in the 3 eggs, and mix thoroughly until well-whipped and creamy.
3) Using a small scoop (or spoons) put about 2 Tablespoons on the batter into each of the mini muffin cups with crust. Bake them in the oven for about 15 minutes.
4) Remove the pans from the oven and allow them to cool on a baking rack for a few minutes. Then, remove them from the mini muffin pans and cool those directly on the cooling rack.. Continue this process until all of the cheesecakes are made.
5) Now for the final touch, mascarpone whipped cream! Remove the whipped cream from the fridge and squeeze a dollop of the whipped cream onto each mini cupcake.
The final final touch– the Oreo topping!!
What did you make for Valentine’s Day?!