Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes

My Valentine's Day consisted of these beauties!

In honor of Valentine's Day I wanted to make something different but still screamed Valentine's! Plus, I really love cheesecake. These are a great combination of the traditional red velvet cupcake, chocolate, and cheesecake. They are rich, creamy and delicious!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes
From: Betty Crocker

• 24 thin chocolate wafer cookers, crushed (1 1/4 cups)
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 pkgs (8oz each) plus 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp red food coloring
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Place foil baking cup in each of 16 regular-size muffin cups. In small bowl, mix cookie crumbs and melted butter. Divide crumb mixture among cups. With back of spoon, firmly press cookie crumbs in bottom of each foil cup.*

In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in 1 cup granulated sugar and the cocoa until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and food color. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Divide batter evenly among baking cups (cups will be almost full).

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are firm. Cool 15 minutes (cheesecake centers will sink while cooling). Refrigerate in baking cups at least 1 hour; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour longer before serving.

In chilled small bowl, beat whipping cream and sugar with electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Spoon whipped cream on chilled cheesecakes. Just before serving, garnish with chocolate curls. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cheesecakes.

*An alternative crust I like to use for mini cheesecakes - Instead of making a crumb mixture, I just place a whole Oreo cookie into each cupcake tin. That's it! It's so easy, you don't have to make a mess crushing cookies or get any additional dished dirty!

Mini Cheesecakes

The perfect mini dessert! I served mine with a teaspoon of strawberry jam and fresh chopped strawberries.

Individual Cheesecake Cupcakes

• 1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• favorite toppings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with miniature paper liners.           
Crush the vanilla wafers, and place 1/2 teaspoon of the crushed vanilla wafers into each paper cup. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. 

Blueberry basil Cheesecake Cupcakes Oh My!

Yup, that's right blueberry AND basil cheesecake in a cupcake form! That's what I thought too. But these are surprisingly SOOOOOO good!! I made them last week for a "going away potluck" party at work. This recipe made 48 cupcakes!! With knowing that, I still didn't cut it in half, which I debated doing since I wasn't sure how they were going to taste, and I'm so glad I didn't! Because they are DELICIOUS! I took just over half the batch to work and left with only a hand full. I got rave reviews from everyone at work. I believe my manager ate 3 and one of my co-workers ate 4!! You can taste the basil but it blends in nicely with blueberry and cream cheese. Definitely will make these again!

Blueberry Basil Cheesecake Cupcakes Ingredients:

The Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham crackers, ground in a food processor
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1.5 cup regular sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 8 oz. sour cream, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
  

Blueberry Basil Filling

• 1 can of Blueberry Pie filling
• 1 Tbsp ground basil
  

Cream Cheese Filling

• 16 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  

Blueberry Basil Whipped Topping

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 4 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 4 Tbsp Blueberry Basil Filling
  

For the Blueberry Basil Filling: Purée the blueberry pie filling and ground basil in a food processor. Set aside.

For the cake: Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and ground graham crackers in a large bowl and stir with a wire whisk until combined. Set aside. Cream both sugars and butter with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients in three additions, alternating with the sour cream in two additions and ending with the flour mixture. Mix well with each addition. Add vanilla and mix well. Set aside.

For the cream cheese filling: In another bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the cream cheese filling and mix until thoroughly combined.

For the Blueberry Basil Whipped Topping (You can make this while the cupcakes are cooling): Beat whipping cream and powdered sugar in a chilled mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Add Blueberry Basil Filling until combined. And throw in some extra ground basil if you want the taste stronger.

Assembly: Fill each baking cup about halfway. Spread a spoonful of the blueberry basil filling on top. Spoon some of the cream cheese filling on the top of that so that they are filled about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-18 minutes. Cool. Top with Blueberry Basil Whipped Topping and whole blueberries, if desired.

Note: You can keep some untopped cupcakes refrigerated. Then, heat them up a little and add the cold blueberry basil whipped topping when ready to eat.

Naked Cupcakes

Deliciously topped cupcakes :)

Ready to be eaten cupcakes!