Peanut Butter Cheesecakes

Baking and I are back on good terms.  At least temporarily.  I came across this recipe for "healthier" cheesecakes on a blog (that for the life of me, I cannot remember.)  They were so cute and so easy and I thought, Why Not?  And boy, am I glad I did.  While there are substitutions to make them less "bad" for you - at the end of the day, we're still talking about cream cheese and peanut butter.  At the end of my count, I guesstimate about 200 calories each for these little loves.

• 18 sandwich cookies (I used golden Oreos)

• 16 oz neufchatel (1/3-less-fat) cream cheese, at room temperature

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

• 1/2 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt

pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 275. 

Line a cupcake tin with liners.

One cookie goes in the bottom of each liner.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. 

Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  You'll need to do this frequently. 

Add in sugar and vanilla- mix until smooth.

Scrape, scrape.

Add in eggs - one at a time, mixing between each addition.

More scraping.

Add in greek yogurt and salt.

Taste.

Taste test again. 

Delish.  Give thumbs up approval to yourself for a tasty job well done.

Fill each liner nearly full - maybe 3/4, smoothing with spoon.  This should make enough for 18 mini cheesecakes.

Place into the oven for 22 to 24 minutes, until filling has set.  Cool.

These are best chilled.  If you set them overnight, the cookies soften a bit and make a softer crust.  If you get into these shortly after they come out of the oven, the Oreos will still be crunchy.  Which is really nice as well. 

Basically, you can't lose.   This is win, win for all.

Yum, Yum, gimme some!!

Golden Oreo crust!

Delish.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

These were really awesome. I brought these to Easter, and it seemed like people really enjoyed them.

Also, the peanut butter frosting could be used on many different plain cupcakes.

I slightly modified the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake recipe from My Baking Addiction.

Cupcake Ingredients
2 1/4 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 T baking powder
4 large egg whites (at room temp)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (at room temp)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (at room temp)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Jelly (I used grape.)

Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and buttermilk.

In a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Then, add the vanilla. Slowly add a third of the dry mixture while beating at medium speed. Add half of the egg/buttermilk, a third of the dry mixture, the last of the egg/buttermilk, and finally, the last of the dry ingredients. Beat for a few more minutes until the batter is consistent throughout.Start putting the mixture in paper cupcake liners. I made 20 cupcakes.

Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350. Cool.

Now comes a fun part. I was able to use my apple corer that I got from my friend Amanda to create a space for the jelly filling. It's up to you to decide how much space you'd like to make for the jelly filling. After creating the space, add the jelly to each cupcake.


Frosting Ingredients
1 cup of peanut butter
3 sticks of butter (at room temp)
2 lbs powdered sugar
8 T heavy cream
2 T vanilla extract


To make the frosting, cream the peanut butter and butter in a standing mixer on medium speed. Switch to low speed, and add the powdered sugar while blending. Add the heavy cream and vanilla. Mix on high speed until the frosting is smooth and evenly blended.

I used a plastic bag to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes because that's how I roll, but if you have all of the proper frosting tools, use those. Make sure that the cupcakes are cooled before adding the frosting.


After the cupcakes have been frosted, add a drop of jelly to each cupcake.

This recipe makes a lot of frosting, and I have a lot left over. Maybe I didn't put enough on each cupcake, but I regret that I didn't have other plain cupcakes on hand. This frosting would be awesome on lots of other cupcakes. Taste it, and you'll see.