White Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

I'm one of those types that will buy holiday-related food items a month before the holiday is to arrive. This includes muffin cups, dish towels, cookie cutters, candies - whatever stands out when I'm shopping around. Over the weekend, I realized that I still had a bag of cherry-flavored heart candies and mini Valentine muffin cups. While I COULD have just eaten the bag of heart candies, it probably wouldn't have been that great of an idea. Had it been chocolate...

So I had a mini brainstorm standing in the middle of my kitchen. I could make red velvet cupcakes, but my mom had just made us some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes the other day - so we were cupcaked out. Mini brownies? Meh. Cheesecake sounded way better. I typically use mascarpone for everything, I can't help it, I work for a company that makes mascarpone - but I didn't have any around. Gasp! But I did have a package of cream cheese. So - if you're curious about using mascarpone instead, use about 12oz mascarpone and 4oz cream cheese, instead of what I use listed in the recipe below. They will be much creamier and smoother with the mascarpone than all cream cheese - but both versions are good. You can also substitute the white chocolate for a dark (or any variety of) chocolate - your choice! This recipe sort of mimics one that we use at work all the time, so it was easy to manipulate to what I was craving for. These are so easy and quick that you won't know what to do with your free time.

White Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

1 cup graham crackers, crushed

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

12 oz white chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons orange flavored liqueur

24 heart-shaped candies

24 mini cupcake liners

Directions

Prepare a double boiler by placing a stainless steel bowl on top of a sauce pan with simmering water. Pour white chocolate chips into the stainless steel bowl and allow to melt.

In the mean time, lay out the 24 cupcake liners in a 9x13 pan.

In a bowl, combine melted butter with the crushed graham crackers. Evenly disperse the cracker/butter mixture amongst the 24 cupcake liners. Pack the crumbs to form a crust with your fingers.

Check back to the white chocolate chips and stir to encourage them to all melt. Once the white chocolate is melted, mix in the cream cheese and stir until incorporated, followed by the orange flavored liqueur.

Once all ingredients are combined and have created a smooth texture, evenly spoon filling into each of the cupcake liners. A small cookie scoop works perfect for this job.

Cover the 9x13 pan and place in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or until cooled. Top each cheesecake with a candy heart. Enjoy!