chocolate cheesecake with dark chocolate ganache drizzle

In addition to the mini pumpkin pies that I made for Thanksgiving last year, I also made this luscious chocolate cheesecake! I had just seen it on America's Test Kitchen (before they got rid of Christopher Kimball 😭) and I was dying to make it!

Instead of using traditional graham crackers for the crust, this recipe used smashed Oreo cookies (my mouth is watering already) which are ground in the food processor and then mixed with melted butter, pressed into a springform pan, and then baked until set.

For the filling, it's your basic cheesecake recipe, but amped up with cocoa powder and melted chocolate (YUM).

Once the filling is poured on top of the cooled crust, the method is to cover the cheesecake with foil and bake at a low temperature halfway, and then remove the foil and bake for the remaning half. And best of all, no water bath is required! Yippee!

Here it is right out of the oven, all puffy and creamy delicious looking.

But we're not done yet. The final touch is to drizzle chocolate ganache...  All. Over. The. Top.

Delicious!

I know it's way past Thanksgiving at this point, but hope you had a happy one!

mini pumpkin pies for thanksgiving

Still enamored with the flower-shaped tart crusts from my two previous posts (see mini blueberry cheesecake tarts and mini chocolate cream tarts). for Thanksgiving last year I decided to make little mini pumpkin pies with the same shaped tart crusts, except this time with pie crust dough instead of chocolate wafer cookie dough. We were planning on driving down to LA to spend Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, so I thought these little portable mini pies would be perfect to make ahead and transport!

For the crust I used my go-to all butter pie crust recipe (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), which I chilled and then rolled out to about 1/8 inch thick. Then I used a flower-shaped cookie cutter to stamp out each mini crust.

Then I fit them into my ungreased cupcake tins, and put them in the fridge to chill.

While the crusts were chilling, I start on the pumpkin pie filling, which included canned pumpkin pie, evaporated milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, salt, and eggs.

Then I filled my chilled mini crusts and then baked them at 350F until the crust was golden brown and the filling was just set and still a little bit jiggly.

I let them cool before removing them from the cupcake tins and then chilling them overnight to let the filling set even more.

I just love the way the little flower-shaped crusts look, plus they fit into the cupcake tins perfectly!

Thanksgiving with my family was super fun, we ate under an outdoor gazebo and we stuffed ourselves until our stomachs were uncomfortably full! The evening ended with a kids dance-off and lots of goofy selfies! Happy Thanksgiving!

mini blueberry cheesecake tarts

I was so enamored with the little chocolate cookie crusts from my previous post, I made them again for my second day of Thanksgiving "Harvest Potluck" at my kids' school last year. (The first day was for my oldest son, the second day was for my daughter, as they have their potlucks on different days). This time, instead of using the cookie crusts for mini chocolate cream pies, I turned them into mini blueberry cheesecake tarts! 

You can check out my previous post on how I made the cookie crusts, but for this filling I made a no-bake cheesecake type of filling. I've made it before for large tarts (such as this flag tart and this father's day tart), and the filling worked just as well for mini tarts. (You can find the recipe at Martha Stewart's website.)

After using a disposable pastry bag to pipe the filling into each cookie crust, I topped them with fresh blueberries. So simple and easy!

The final step was a light dusting of powdered sugar.

This cookie crust and filling combo is so versatile, you could top them with any fresh fruit, or even a drizzle of salted caramel or chocolate ganache instead of fruit would be delicious!

These little tarts are the perfect portable dessert for potlucks or picnis, and elegant enough to serve at dinner parties as well! Enjoy!

mini chocolate cream tarts

Every year before Thanksgiving, my kids' school has a "Harvest Potluck" to celebrate, where parents sign up to bring food and desserts and have a nice luncheon with their kids. It's a really nice event and I love going every year! Last year, I signed up to make dessert, and decided that I wanted to make little mini chocolate cream tarts.

 

Upon searching for mini chocolate cream pie recipes, I ended up using this one at Flour Arrangements and thought they were so darn cute! I loved the scalloped shape of the mini pie crusts! They're made by rolling out what is essentially a chocolate sugar cookie dough, and then using a flower shaped cookie cutter to cut out the shapes, before fitting them into a cupcake tin to bake.

Two things that I learned while making these - a) the chocolate sugar cookie dough was much to wet for me to roll out, so I ended up adding more flour. But the end result was a not-so-tender crust, and lacked the chocolate flavor that I was craving, so next time I think I'll try using Thomas Keller's homemade oreo (TKO) cookie dough recipe. And, b) it's easiest to roll out the cookie dough while the dough is sandwiched between two sheets of parchment paper, otherwise you will need to add flour to the rolling pin and this will leave white splotches all over your beautiful dark brown cookie crusts!

After the cookie crusts were baked and cooled, I filled them with the chocolate cream (essentially a chocolate pudding). Again, I thought the chocolate cream lacked the chocolate "punch" that I was craving, so next time I'll go back to my dark chocolate pudding recipe instead.

After letting the chocolate pudding set in the fridge, I piped little dollops of freshly whipped cream on top, in a cute little pattern to resemble the inside of a flower.

And finally, I dusted each tart with a rich unsweetened cocoa powder.

I thought they turned out super cute!

Even though I thought these could have used a more chocolatey crust and filling, they were a hit at the potluck!

These little treats are perfect for any potluck, or even Thanksgiving dessert itself! Enjoy!

thanksgiving turkey cupcakes - pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Last year for my youngest son's preschool Thanksgiving party, I signed up to make dessert. I knew wanted to make Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes, but I wanted something different from the ones I had made in previous years (see these and these ones as well). So using the "petal technique" that I've done on cakes in the past (originally done by Hungry Housewife! Go check out her tutorial!), I created these cute little turkeys!

I decided on a pumpkin cupcake to match the occasion (and also it's semi-healthy for the kids!). I used the same Martha Stewart recipe that I've used in the past, because it always comes out moist and fluffy!

For the frosting, I whipped up a batch of cream cheese buttercream and divided it into four, and colored the first three portions for the turkey's tail feathers.

The fourth portion I colored brown, for the turkey's head.

Using the petal technique, I created the first row of tail feathers with yellow frosting ...

Then the second row with orange frosting ...

And the third row with red frosting.

Then I piped a little round blob for the turkey's head!

Finally, I used black sugar pearls for the eyes, rainbow chips for the beak, and upside-down heart sprinkles for the wattle.

Aren't they cute?

Gobble Gobble! Happy Thanksgiving!