My amazing friend Amber made these wonderful little Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bites for a party. I tasted one and demanded the recipe. I think I might have even stomped my foot to relay urgency in acquiring the recipe. Whatever I did it worked and here they are. I adore cheesecake – but consider it a very special occasion dessert because it must be cut into beautiful, yet equal pieces at the last minute – it requires a plate, a fork, and frequently a garnish. That’s a lot to ask after serving a big dinner. So when someone passed around a plate with little cheesecake bites you could just pick up and devour, I knew we were on to something. Thank you Miss Amber.
I guess I’ve had cheesecake bars before, but they weren’t really finger food and somehow not as satisfying as a real slice of cheesecake. Let me assure you this recipe is the whole enchilada. Here is how it works - there is a platter of cheesecake bites, you pick one up and eat it, then you go back for more hoping there will be more and that no one is counting. All that is lovely, but here is the best part, this is easy to make. I was happy about that, because Amber has restaurant experience which can mean that it doesn’t matter how long recipes take or how many pans might be employed when you have a professional dishwasher and a restaurant full of customers. While I always expect to have a lot of takers for this recipe, I did cut the recipe in half to suit my needs. I eliminated dishes to wash by melting first butter and then chocolate in the same bowl, and took the useful advice to line the baking pan. I crushed the cookies for the crust in a baggie using a rolling pin and added the butter to the baggie after that to mix the crust. (I really hate doing dishes.) The result is beautiful cheesecake bites with enough chocolate to satisfy any diehard chocolate addict and just sweet enough, but not overpowering like some cheesecakes can be. I’ll admit to adding a touch of Amaretto – couldn’t resist, but with or without – this is your perfect cheesecake bite. Make these for Memorial Day weekend – wait that’s too far away! Go ahead and make this recipe now, you won’t regret it! Enjoy!
Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bites
Ingredients
20 chocolate creamed-filled sandwich cookies, finely-crushed
– 1 cup
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 pkg (16 oz.) cream cheese
½ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
Optional: 1 tsp Amaretto
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (takes 1 min.
to melt in microwave)
Directions
Heat oven to 325° F
Mix cookie crumbs and butter (see story) and press onto
bottom of foil-lined 8x8” pan
Bake for 10 min.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar,
and vanilla until well-blended
Add sour cream and mix to thoroughly combine
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each just until
blended
Stir melted and cooled chocolate in two cups of batter, and
reserve the rest for later
Pour chocolate batter onto the crust
Top with spoons of reserved vanilla batter
Swirl batters with knife, being sure not to cut the crust
underneath
Bake 30 minutes or until center is mostly set
Cool slightly and refrigerate four hours before cutting into
bite-sized pieces
Test a few, then serve the rest
