Mini Heart Shaped Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

With just over two weeks until Valentine’s Day, cute heart-shaped things are starting to pop up all over the blogosphere, and I couldn’t wait to join in! I’m actually not that big into mushy Valentine’s Day stuff and I certainly don’t need to receive any gifts (I always seem to kill flowers within a day and I don’t even like chocolate), but I do enjoy the spirit of the holiday, and am super excited to bake Valentine’s themed treats!

My first Valentine’s Day recipe this year was this mini heart-shaped white chocolate cheesecake, and it turned out so well that I almost want to quit now while I’m ahead, because I don’t think I can top this!

My mom got me this mini heart-shaped springform pan last year and I was eager to test it out last Valentine’s Day. At first I had a hard time finding any recipes online that would fit the pan, so I was excited when I found this gorgeous cheesecake from Pennies on a Platter, with raspberry swirls in a white chocolate batter over an Oreo crust.

I wanted to make something similar to hers because I love white chocolate and raspberry together, but her recipe was for an 8” cheesecake so I had to play around with the ingredients quite a bit to figure out how to make just the right amount for a 4” pan. I was close with my first try last year, but still ended up with too much leftover batter. The cheesecake was just as delicious as I expected though, so I was more than happy to give it another try this year!

This year, not only did I get the amount of ingredients just right for the mini pan, but I also discovered that spreading raspberry sauce across the top of the cheesecake (instead of swirling it into the batter) makes it even prettier! I loved the colour contrast of the red, white, and black together, but I loved the flavour even more! Each forkful gives you the perfect combination of raspberry, cheesecake, and chocolate, and the texture of the cheesecake was creamy and rich and everything a cheesecake should be.

After I started photographing the cheesecake I realized it needed something else on top, so I melted some white chocolate and wrote a simple Valentine’s message on it. Obviously chocolate isn’t the best choice for this type of thing because it hardens in the fridge, so you’ll probably want to use an icing instead, but the chocolate still worked well if you’re in a pinch!

Cut in half, this is just the right size to serve two people, making it perfect for a Valentine’s date. I actually cut each half in two so that I could share it with my sister and parents, and the smaller pieces were a nice size for a snack or light dessert that doesn’t leave you feeling stuffed, but we were all wishing for more after because it was so good!

I shared this link in Sweets for Saturday over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.

Mini Heart-Shaped Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

Adapted from Pennies on a Platter

Makes one 4-inch cheesecake, Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

For the Oreo Crust:

1/2 cup Oreo cookie crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter

For the Cheesecake:

4 oz (half a brick) cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 a large egg (whisk one egg in a bowl first then divide in half)
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz melted white chocolate

For the Raspberry Sauce:

5oz raspberries
1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Directions:

For the Oreo Crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix Oreo crumbs with sugar and melted butter in a small bowl, until all crumbs are all moistened with butter. Pour into a 4” heart-shaped springform pan and press down with your fingers to cover the bottom of the pan and slightly up the sides. I ended up with a bit of extra leftover crumbs.

Bake in preheated oven for about 7-10 minutes. Remove and leave on a wire rack to cool.

For the Cheesecake:

Mix cream cheese and sugar in a small bowl until completely softened and smooth. I just used a whisk and mixed this by hand, but make sure you mix the cream cheese well. Add the half egg and mix until combined.

Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Lastly, add the melted white chocolate and mix until combined.

Transfer the cheesecake to the springform pan with the cooled crust. Bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 250°F and bake for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn off oven and let cheesecake cool in oven for 1 hour or until it’s cool enough to touch. Remove and let cool at room temperature until completely cooled.

For the Raspberry Sauce:

Bring raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Let boil about 5 minutes, until thickened. Press through a fine mesh sieve to discard the seeds.

Pour raspberry sauce over the cooled cheesecake and smooth with a spatula. Transfer cheesecake to a covered container and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Giveaway: (now closed)

Now I know a lot of you are thinking you won't be able to make this because you don't have the same pan I used. Well not to worry because all this lovey-dovey stuff has put me in a generous mood, so I'm giving one reader the chance to win their own Wilton mini heart-shaped springform pan!

How to Enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me What would be your ideal Valentine's Day dessert?

Optional Additional Entries:

If you want the chance for up to 2 additional entries, you can do either or both of the following (just be sure to leave a separate comment here for each one, in addition to the comment mentioned above):

• Like Once Upon A Cutting Board on Facebook and leave a separate comment on this post to say you do.
• Subscribe to Once Upon A Cutting Board's RSS Feed and leave a separate comment on this post to say you do.

Rules and Details:

1. This giveaway is only open to those with Canadian or U.S. shipping addresses.
2. Include your name and a valid email address with each entry so that I can contact you (the comment system will ask for your email address but it will not be published).
3. Entries must be submitted by Monday, January 30 at midnight EST.
4. I will randomly choose the winning comment on Tuesday morning and email the winner. That person will have 48 hours to respond with their shipping address or a new winner will be selected.

Good luck!

This post/giveaway is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with Wilton. I just like this pan and want to share it with someone else!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed and a winner has been selected. Thanks to all for your entries!

White Chocolate Candy Cane Cheesecake

I’m so excited to share this cheesecake with you guys because it’s not only my favourite cheesecake, but also my favourite holiday recipe! I first made it last December and was told by multiple people that it was their favourite thing I’d ever made, so there was no question that I was making it again this year (and you should too)!

I think the secret to this cheesecake’s success is the melted white chocolate in the batter. While others might not detect it, it gives the filling a rich taste and creamy texture, and also pairs perfectly with the peppermint. I mixed crushed candy canes into the batter instead of using peppermint extract because the red and green sparkles gave the cake more of a festive look, but if you want to make sure that enough peppermint flavour comes through, you can add some extract too. 

The original recipe calls for a graham cracker crust but I think Oreo is the perfect match here. And my favourite part of the cake is the Cool Whip topping – not just because it adds to the festive, snowy look of the cake but also because it covers up any cracks or mistakes it may have (not that my cheesecakes ever end up with Grand Canyon-sized cracks, of course, not at all…)

I had to give this cake away immediately so that I didn’t end up eating the whole thing myself, but I soon regretted that decision – after all, the holidays are meant for indulgence, right? 

White Chocolate Candy Cane Cheesecake

Adapted from Kraft

Ingredients:

1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 bricks (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

3 large eggs

4 squares Baker’s White Chocolate (or 4 oz white chocolate), melted

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional for a stronger peppermint flavour)

1-2 cups thawed Cool Whip frozen whipped topping

1/2 cup chopped candy canes, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Mix Oreo cookie crumbs with 2 tablespoons of sugar and the melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese and remaining 3/4 cup sugar with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition until just blended. Stir in the melted chocolate and peppermint extract, if using. Gently stir in 1/4 cup finely crushed candy canes. Pour batter over the pre-baked crust.

Bake cheesecake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until center is almost set. Run a knife around the rim of the pan to loosen the cake so that it doesn’t crack as it cools. Let cool at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Immediately before serving, spread Cool Whip over the top of the cheesecake and sprinkle remaining chopped candy canes on top. This should be done before serving as the candy canes start to bleed their colour into the cool whip if left to sit for a while.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Before I tell you about this incredible pie, let me “introduce” my boyfriend Ryan. A lot of food bloggers have cute nicknames for their significant others. I’m not sure if this is to protect their identity, to help readers identify them easily, or just for fun. Either way, I thought I’d give Ryan a chance to choose a nickname for himself in case he had any qualms about me using his real name on this blog. He decided that he wanted to be called Tiger Claw. I decided to stick with Ryan.

The only thing you need to know about Ryan is that he is o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d. with peanut butter. He eats it on toast every single morning, but goes absolutely crazy for chocolate peanut butter desserts. I’m bringing this up for two reasons. First is to warn you that you might see a lot of peanut butter recipes on this blog. Gotta keep my #1 fan happy! Second is because it brings me to this recipe.

When I mentioned in passing that I’d seen a good looking peanut butter pie on another blog, Ryan was already sold. I knew there was no chance I would get out of making it once the idea was planted in his head. Fortunately, it sounded pretty easy and I didn’t have to buy many ingredients for it. Unfortunately, the recipe called for whipping cream, and I did not have access to an electric mixer at Ryan’s nor did I trust my puny arms to do it the old fashioned way.

So I had to make a couple changes to the recipe by using Cool Whip instead. I know a lot of people are against using this type of product (if you’ve ever looked at the list of ingredients in Cool Whip you’ll know why). I chose to push my knowledge of the ingredients out of my mind temporarily, and convinced myself that this had a lot less fat in it than whipping cream, so combined with my choice to use reduced fat cream cheese, I was doing myself a favour. Plus, it saved me time, and the results were still amazing!

If you are a peanut butter lover, or love a peanut butter lover, you have to make this pie. It’s creamy, rich, and because it stays in the freezer, it makes a perfect treat to cool you down in the summer heat. I added some nuts to the topping to give it a bit of crunch, but you could leave these off if you want and just drizzle chocolate on top instead. The oreo crust is a little hard to cut through with your fork after being in the freezer, but this is where you can use those muscles you saved earlier by not whipping the cream!

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Adapted from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, originally from Martha Stewart’s Pies & Tarts

Makes 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

Crust

1 3/4 cups oreo crumbs (about 22 cookies)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
pinch of salt

Filling

6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter (not natural or chunky)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups (1 container) frozen whipped topping, thawed in the refrigerator

Topping

2 tablespoons peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons walnuts, chopped
2 ounces semisweet chocolate

Directions:

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Crush the oreo cookies into fine crumbs using a food processor or blender. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until all the crumbs are moistened (the mixture will be quite wet). Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate about 15 minutes so the crust is firm, then bake until set, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling:

Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the peanut butter and vanilla. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the cool whip in two batches.

Transfer the filling to the cooled crust and spread in an even layer. Freeze uncovered for at least 4 hours, or up to 1 day covered in plastic wrap.

*Note – You’ll likely have some leftover filling, but if you have any peanut butter lovers in the house, I’m sure it won’t be hard to get rid of!

For the topping:

Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the surface of the pie.

Put the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30 second bursts at 50% power, stirring between bursts, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer to a ziplock bag and snip a tiny bit off the corner. Hold the bag over the pie and drizzle the melted chocolate in a zig zag pattern.

Remove the pie from the freezer about 10-15 minutes before you are ready to serve. If you have trouble cutting it, running your knife under warm water will help.

I'm currently at the airport waiting to board my flight up North for a week's vacation! I've scheduled for a delicious dinner recipe to be posted while I'm away, but unfortunately I couldn't find the time to get any other posts ready before I left. I promise I'll make up for it with lots of recipes when I get back!