Description
Soft, velvety bites of chocolate cheesecake topped with a silky chocolate ganache and pretty white chocolate spiderweb designs, are the perfect treat for your Halloween bash.
Ingredients
- FOR THE CRUST:
- 25 Oreo Cookies
- 5 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKES:
- ¾ cups Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
- 2 packages (8 Oz. Size) Cream Cheese, Softened To Room Temperature
- ½ cups Plus 3 Tablespoons White Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder (Dutch Process Will Work As Well)
- 2 Large Eggs
- FOR THE GANACHE:
- 6 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
- ½ cups Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
- 1-½ teaspoon White Sugar
- FOR THE SPIDERWEB DESIGN:
- 2 ounces, weight White Chocolate, Melted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin lightly with cooking spray and set aside.
Place Oreos in the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. With food processor running, slowly pour in melted butter and continue to mix until mixture holds together.
Divide crust mixture between muffin cups, using not much more than 2 tablespoons of mixture per cup (you will have some mixture left). Press mixture evenly over bottom of each muffin cup to compact. Place muffin tin in freezer while you prepare cheesecake filling.
For the cheesecakes:
Melt chocolate chips in microwave and set aside.
Place cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl and use a hand mixer to combine until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Add melted chocolate and mix until completely blended and smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
Remove muffin tin from freezer and divide cheesecake filling between crusts. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until centers are just set and appear dry.
Place muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, place in fridge to chill for 2 hours. After 2 hours, make the ganache.
For the ganache:
Place cream, chocolate chips, and sugar in a small saucepan and melt over medium-low heat, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and melt white chocolate, then place into a small resealable bag. Set aside.
Remove cheesecakes from fridge. Run a small knife (a grapefruit knife works very well, if you have one) around each cheesecake and remove from pan. Set on serving platter.
Spoon some ganache on tops of cheesecakes ans spread, leaving a little bit of room around the edges (you will probably have some ganache leftover).
Snip a very small corner off of the bag with the melted chocolate. Pipe three concentric circles onto each cheesecake. Starting from the center, draw a toothpick (you will need to use a clean end for each cheesecake), 6 times through circles towards outside edges of ganache to make spiderwebs. Transfer cheesecakes to fridge for 30 minutes to allow ganache to set.
You can serve the same day, or a day or two after—cheesecakes always get better with age!
Store leftover cheesecakes in fridge.
