Mini Snickers Cheesecakes . . . Birthday Traditions Die Hard

Growing up, I always asked for a cheesecake for my birthday, and my mom always complied. Usually it was a New York cheesecake (which is basically just plain) with some type of fruit topping. This tradition continued through college, and I can tell you it made me pretty popular with my roomies. BUT, now that I'm all growed up, my mom's not usually here on my birthday, so I must make my own. (Although, my parents and brother came on Friday, and brought a delicious Cheesecake Factory Reese's cheesecake . . . yum.) Instead of making an entire cheesecake which would basically be eaten only by Dusty and me, right before the holiday pounds start packing on, I decided to make some mini cheesecakes. They turned out really well, and were so fun to make and decorate, and I used leftover Halloween Snickers instead of chocolate chips. The original recipe can be found here.


Mini Cheesecakes

Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp brown sugar
small pinch salt
2 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

Cheesecake
8-oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips, or chopped up candy of your choice

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 cups of a muffin pan with paper liners.

2) Mix together graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and salt and stir to combine. Pour over melted butter and stir with a fork to moisten the crumbs. Place about a tablespoon of crumb mixture in each of the prepared muffin cups and pack down into an even layer.*
3) Cream together cream cheese, sour cream and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
4) Place 1 tbsp chocolate chips or 1/2 of a Fun Size candy bar (chopped) into each of the muffin cups. Evenly divide cheesecake batter between the muffin cups, covering chocolate.**
5) Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cheesecakes are set. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin pan, then carefully transfer cheesecakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before refrigerating. Check them after 20 minutes - the centers should still be a little jiggly, but they'll firm up and set as they cool. You don't want to overbake them.

Check out my new bday apron! 

*I used 1 1/2 Tbls. and still had a little leftover. I used a juice glass to press the crumbs down and it fit perfectly.
**I used a small cookie scoop and two scoops per cup worked well. Approximately 2 Tbls. per cup. Although, if I were to make these again, I might make 1 1/2 times the filling and fill the cups a little more. Also, if using a candy bar with caramel, try to keep it in the center of the muffin cup - when I unwrapped mine, the pieces of Snickers touching the sides pulled off on the paper. Definitely not disastrous, but the presentation isn't as nice . . . but I did get to eat those Snickers pieces, which was a plus ;) I drizzled caramel and melted chocolate chips over the top of mine, but you could use whatever you'd like - leftover crust crumbs, chopped nuts or chocolate, or a little piece of whatever candy you're using. Hope you enjoy these babies!

On a Side Note: Aiden goes back in this week to have his eyes checked again - I'm hoping he won't even need the patches anymore, but I'm praying he still won't need surgery . . . fingers crossed! Also, Asher and Aiden have started playing together more and it is my new favorite thing. I love, love, love hearing them laughing together - it is the best sound I've heard.

"Playing" usually involves making a mess of all the toys and books :)

Aiden's pretty adept at crawling now, but as you can see from this picture,
he followed a toy under this chair . . . and then got stuck! I had to get a
picture because it was just too funny, and he was so mad. What a goof.