Mini Kahlua Cheesecake (Recipe 18 of 150)

Photo from Glorious Treats

Tomorrow is book club. You know, my drinking group with a reading problem? Yah, that group. Book club is hosted by the person who's book pick it is. I found myself last year getting comfortable with bringing the same thing each time. Basically getting lazy and just bringing an easy appetizer. I decided this year I was going to mix it up. Each month, I'd select another "course" to bring. This month I'm bringing dessert. Enter Mini Kahlua Cheesecakes.

First off, I didn't make "mini" cheesecakes. I don't have mini pans and wasn't going to buy them for this one recipe. Instead I put it in a 5X7 baking dish. You could put it in a 8X8 too. I just wanted to have smaller servings and no leftovers. 

Overall, this recipe is very easy. I swapped out the Oreos with gluten free Oreos - they taste the same honestly. And I swapped the sugar with Swerve low carb sugar. 

Be sure to read the instructions carefully. You set the oven at 350 to begin with, then turn it down immediately when you put in the cheesecake. My cheesecake did not cook at 250 in 25 minutes. It took me more like 45. I started with 25 and did 5 minute increments until it was set. I think they have you cook it at a low temp to avoid the cheesecake from cracking during baking. 

Mini Kahlua Cheesecake
Recipe from Glorioustreats.com

Serves 12

Crust

• 11 Chocolate sandwich cookies Oreos
• 2 tablespoons butter

Filling

• 2 oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 12 oz cream cheese 1 and 1/2 packages
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup Kahlua coffee liqueur

Prepare the cheesecake pan by rubbing the inside of each cheesecake well with a lightly oiled paper towel.

Preheat oven to 350*F.

Make the crust

Melt the butter in a small bowl. Place the oreo cookies in a large ziplock type bag, and crush using a rolling pin. Place crushed cookie crumbs in a medium sized bowl and combine with melted butter. Add about 1 tablespoon of the crust mixture into each of the 12 mini cheesecake wells. Pack down the crumbs using a shot glass or glass spice bottle. Bake crust for 10 minutes in preheated oven.

Filling:

Melt chocolate in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend cream cheese until very smooth. Add sugar and continue to blend until fully incorporated. Add egg and vanilla, and continue to beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add melted chocolate, and blend. While blending, add Kahlua. Beat an additional 30 seconds or so.

Reduce the oven temperature to 250*F.

Open a large ziplock bag and place it in a large glass, pulling the sides of the bag down over the glass. Add the cheesecake filling to the bag, then close the bag. Snip off one corner of the bag, and fill each well of the cheesecake pan a bit more than 3/4 full with filling. If there is a bit of extra filling, you can bake it in a small ramekin for a little "tester"

Place cheesecake pan in the 250*F oven and bake cheesecakes until the filling is set, 22-25 minutes. Place the pan on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature, then place entire pan in the refrigerator about 4 hours before removing cheesecakes from the pan.

Once cool, carefully remove the cheesecakes from the pan (pressing up on the removable bottom of each well). Keep the cheesecakes in the fridge until ready to serve. Garnish with whipped cream, a chocolate covered espresso bean and a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder.