CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE CUPS

Sharing is caring!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE CUPS
These little CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE CUPS are to die for!  They are so good, you’ll want to eat the whole pan.  It’s like a peanut butter cup squared.  It’s got the crunchy cookie cup, and the smooth cool creamy peanut butter cheesecake filling that just melts in your mouth.  Trust me, you’ll want to put this one in your favorites, so you can make these again, and again!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 cup of Butter – softened
• 1 cup of Sugar
• 1 cup of Brown Sugar – packed
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
• 2 teaspoons of Hot Water
• 3 cups of Flour
• 1/2 cup of Cocoa
  1 teaspoon of Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of Salt
• 1 1/2 Cups of Ghirardelli Mini Chocolate Chips

CHEESECAKE FILLING:

• 1 package of Cream Cheese – 8 ounces – softened
• 1/2 cup of Heavy Cream
• 1 cup of Sugar
• 1/2 cup of Peanut Butter
  1 teaspoon of Vanilla
• 1/2 cup of Ghriardelli Mini Chocolate chips – melted

HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:

Pre – heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the Butter, Sugar, and Brown Sugar, and mix until smooth and creamy, and no lumps remain.  Add Eggs, and Vanilla, and mix well  Place Baking soda in the Hot water, and dissolve.  Add to mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, blend together the Flour, Salt, Cocoa, and Chocolate chips.  Add to mixing bowl, and blend on low until all ingredients are well blended.

Roll cookie dough into large balls, and place each ball in a muffin tin compartment.  Place the muffin tin in the oven, and let dough bake for about 15 minutes.  Remove the muffin tin, and with a shot glass, press down the center of the cookie dough ball, pressing it up the side of the muffin compartment, and forming a cookie cup.   The cookie dough will stick to the shot glass, so just remove the cookie cup, and push it off of the shot glass onto a wire rack to cool.  Repeat until all dough has been used. 

When cookie cups are cooled, make the Cheesecake filling.  In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the softened Cream Cheese, heavy cream, Sugar, Vanilla and Peanut Butter.  Mix all together until well blended, smooth and creamy.

Using a small spoon, fill the centers of the cookie cups with the Cheesecake Filling.  Sprinkle a few of the Mini Chocolate chips on top of each cookie cup. 

Place the cookie cups in a container, in a single layer, and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.  Serve, and Enjoy!