Peanut Butter Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

I must admit I wasn't going to blog about this recipe. But I posted photos on instagram and received so many recipe requests... so here we are! This cheesecake is insanely rich. It's decadence is almost obscene, and yet there is a homeiness to peanut butter that makes this dessert seem appropriate for quarantine, particularly when made in mini form. You can freeze them and pop them out whenever you need an isolation pick me up!

Cheesecake seems hard to make but in actuality it is one of the easiest desserts to make. All you need is a scale and a food processor! This particular recipe comes from the British baking goddess Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Kitchen." I highly recommend getting one of her cookbooks not only for the excellent and easy recipes but for the entertaining and acerbicly funny prologues to each recipe. (Part of her intro for this recipe states: "Unashamed indulgence, wallowingly so, is what this recipe is all about.") She recommends not cooking this cheesecake in a water bath (or "bain marie")  but I much prefer the silky texture a bain marie produces. I also made some variations to her suggested topping, as well as baking them in muffin tins to produce mini cakes.

I used Jiffy peanut butter for this recipe. In baking with peanut butter I almost always find that the commercialized junk is better, but in the name of science I will follow up with making this again with a natural peanut butter. If you use natural let me know how it goes!

Happy baking, stay safe friends.


Peanut Butter Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

The measurements are listed in grams. If you do not have a scale but like to bake I highly recommend purchasing one so your baking can become instantly both easier and better. Measurements by weight are much more accurate and accuracy in baking is key. I did list cup measurement for the sour cream because I find scooping sour cream into a measuring cup immensely satisfying, and also I modified Nigella's topping and need to make it again in order to measure the topping ingredients by mL.

If you do not have silicone muffins liners then you can either bake a full cheesecake in an 11-inch springform pan for about 50 minutes, making sure to wrap the outside of the pan in tinfoil before pouring in the boiling water so that water cannot seep into the crack in the springform pan. Or you can use regular muffin tins and ditch the bain marie; your texture will not be as silky. Also I cannot guarantee that they will be easy to remove from the tins as I have not used this technique. They are incredibly easy to remove from the silicone liners - I highly recommend getting a set! 

Also it's extremely important that your ingredients be at full room temperature! If you try to make this with cold cream cheese.... just please don't. Plan ahead.

for the base:
200g graham crackers, gluten-free graham crackers, or digestive biscuits
50g salted peanuts or almonds
100g dark chocolate chips
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature

for the filling:
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
3 egg yolks (whites can be frozen to make meringues at a later date)
200g sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) sour cream, at room temperature
250g smooth peanut butter

for the topping: 
2/3 cup cup sour cream
2/3 cup heavy cream
100g semi-sweet chocolate chips
30g dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 and set a kettle of water on to boil.

Measure the base ingredients into a bowl set atop your scale. Dump the ingredients into your food processor then process until it starts to come together. (Use the pulse button and you will see the base start to clump.) Scrap the mixture back into the bowl you used to measure and set aside.

Wipe out the food processor with a paper towel and set the bowl of the food processor atop your scale. Measure out all the filling ingredients and add in the eggs. Process until completely smooth.

Measure out one tablespoon full of base mixture into each silicone liner, pressing down to make sure the mixture is packed down. Then measure out the filling mixture into each muffin liner, about two tablespoons worth for each one. Put the muffin liners into a large roasting pan then place in the preheated oven. Then very carefully pour in the boiling water into the roasting pan so that the water comes halfway up each muffin liner. Bake for anywhere from 12-20 minutes, until the filling is just set. (Baking times will depend on your oven.)

While the cheesecakes bake, make the topping. In a metal bowl combine the topping ingredients then place over a small pot of simmering water. Stir until all the chocolate chips have melted and you have a beautiful silky sauce.

Take the cheesecakes out of the water bath as soon as they come out of the oven. Pour a tablespoon of  the warm topping over each cheesecake. For aesthetic reasons, do not touch the topping after you pour it on, as it will mar the surface of the chocolate; pour carefully.

Place the cheesecakes in the fridge overnight then unmold before serving or freezing for later consumption.

Yum!