One of the questions that I ask myself whenever I make a cheesecake is, how can I capture a certain idea or thing in a cheesecake? This time it was “Christmas”. Which brought me to my second question. What experiences, flavors and/or ideas are so iconically Christmas? Well first of all, what’s the best drink in winter? HOT CHOCOLATE! And also, I thought what is a super iconic Christmas flavor? Peppermint of course. I wanted to do something a little different as well so I decided to use a mini cheesecake pan. So let’s make Hot Chocolate Peppermint Mini Cheesecakes.,
These cheesecakes are so much easier to make than typical ones. For starters, no fighting with getting a springform pan ready. All you have to do is use a muffin tin or even better, a mini cheesecake pan. To get them out, just push the bottom plate of the pan up or if you are using a regular muffin tin, just use a knife to get it out. Just if you are using that just build your crust up all the way up the sides. That way you will have a stronger barrier between the knife used to take the cheesecake out and the cheesecake itself.
The second thing that makes this easier is no water bath! That’s right. No breaking out that huge roasting pan and pouring boiling water into it potentially burning yourself. My thing that I do is I forget that it’s in there and the next time I preheat the oven, I’ll open it to put whatever it is in there and find a roasting pan full of boiling water. Whoops.
You just have to try this cake, I know you’ll love it. It’s the coziest cheesecake you’ll ever have. I also would love to know what you all think. Did I capture Christmas? What flavors do you think scream Christmas? Have an incredible holiday season and I will see you all next week.
Hot Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake Cups
Little bites of a winter wonderland. Combines the comforting taste of hot chocolate with the iconic christmas flavor of peppermint.
Ingredients
For Crust
- 4 Chocolate Graham Crackers
- 2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter
- 2 Tbsp of Granulated Sugar (Optional)
For Cheesecake
- 6 oz of Cream Cheese
- 1 Cup of Heavy Cream
- 2 Packets of Hot Chocolate Mix Powder
- 1/8 of a Cup of Greek Yogurt
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tsp of Vanilla Extract
- 6 mini candy canes (crushed) and more for decoration
- 1/4 of a Cup of Granulate Sugar
Hot Chocolate Whipped Cream
- 1 Cup of Heavy Cream
- 1/2 of a Cup of Granulated Sugar
- 1 Packet of Hot Chocolate Mix
Instructions
For Crust
- Prepare a mini cheescake pan by lining the inside bottom with a parchment paper circle. Spray the inside with non stick spray so the parchment paper sticks to the pan.
- Place the cholate graham crackers in a food processor or freezer bag. Pulse or crush with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer until you get coarse crumbs.
- Add the butter and optional sugar and pulse or crush until you get the texture of wet sand.
- Press this mixture into your prepared pan in an even layer.
- Set aside.
For Cheesecake
- Place the softened cream cheese in the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or regular bowl with a hand mixer.
On medium speed, beat the cream cheese until completely smooth. About 10 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and the sides of the bowl and beat again until smooth. - Add in the sugar and beat until smooth and all incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and the sides of the bowl and beat once more until smooth.
- Combine the hot chocolate mix with the heavy cream and whisk to incorperate the two. Pour that in and beat until fully incorperated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat again until smooth.
- Repeat this step with the greek yogurt and the vanilla extract. Make sure the batter is completely smooth at this point before the next step.
- Add in the eggs, one at time, Beating between each addition to incorporate and scraping down the bottom and the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated fully.
- Mix in crushed candy canes and beat until incorperated.
- Fill each of the mini cheesecake cups 3/4 of the way with batter.
- Bake the cheesecakes for 15 minutes or until the edges are set but the middle jiggles slightly.
- Shut off the oven, crack the oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an additional hour to cool. The cheesecake will deflate as they cool.
- Push the bottom ring of each cup up to transfer each cheesecake out of the pan and onto a serving dish.
- Place the cheesecakes covered in the fridge overnight.
For Hot Chocolate Whipped Cream
- Combine the cold water and the unflavored gelatin in a small bowl and set aside to set. It's ready when it looks like a brown/tan blob.
- Combine the heavy cream with the hot chocolate mix and whisk to incorperate.
- Place heavy cream in the bowl of a strand mixer with a whisk attachment or regular bowl with a hand mixer.
- Beat until frothy. About 3 minutes.
- Add in the sugar in a steady stream while beating until you get soft peaks. About 3-5 minutes. In the meantime, add in the boiling water to the gelatin and stir to dissolve.
- Add the gelatin to the whipped cream and beat until stiff peaks form. This happens fast with the addition of the gelatin so make sure to not over-beat. Once the peak stands straight up on the beater, it's ready.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a star tip and place in the fridge until ready to use.
For Decoration
- Pipe a mound of whipped cream in the center of each cake.
- Sprinkle with crushed candy cane.
- Enjoy immediately otr place in the fridge covered for up to 2 weeks.
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