Cookie Bottom No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecakes. Whaaaaat?
Yes. I do realize my recipe titles are getting longer and longer each day. But I swear I just wanna give you a heads up on what you might be getting yourself into.
Anyway.
This week is weird and super busy and… also weird. Did I say that already? Well it is. So I’m filling it up with sweets.
I feel like I’m trying to cram too many things into just a few days of space. I had my brother’s birthday this past weekend. Thursday is Valentine’s Day. I’ve had my kitchen table piled full of work to do since Sunday evening and I finally put a pretty good dent in it today but it’s still not done.
And it’s taking up most of my kitchen table (have I mentioned yet this week that we need a bigger house? well we do.). That makes it super hard to bake/photograph/eat/anything with food.
Add to all this mess that I have my little guy’s birthday happening in 2 weeks AND my sister’s birthday at the same time, so I should be mapping out and testing cake recipes or shopping or something… but I feel like everyday I run out of time.
Ummmm… another thing: the laundry.
I need to know why it seems to be multiplying.
I’m behind on my reading (I’ll get there you guys, I promise!), I’m behind on sleep. I am NOT behind on walking.
Me and Lucy are doing LOTS of walking. So there’s one good thing.
Two good things: Cookies + No-Bake Cheesecakes.
Cookie Bottom No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecakes
- For the Cookies:
- 1 cup flour plus 2 tablespoons
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- For the No-Bake Cheesecake:
- *8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I use ⅓ fat)
- *1/2 cup peanut butter
- *1 teaspoon vanilla
- *1/3 cup fat free sweetened condensed milk
- For the Chocolate Glaze & Topping:
- **1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- **2 tablespoons heavy cream
- **1/2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons chopped peanuts to garnish
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Remove it from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Let it cool for a minute before adding the egg and then GENTLY stir it in (you don't want scrambled eggs).
- Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until completely combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips before the butter has completely cooled so they melt a little.
- Spoon the cookie dough about ½ tablespoon at a time onto an ungreased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 8 minutes. Let them cool slightly before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies cool, make the no-bake cheesecake. Beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter. Beat in the vanilla and the sweetened condensed milk.
- Set out 6-8 cupcake liners (not in a muffin tin). Set the cookies at a slight angle in the liners so that they form a "bottom" to the cheesecake but one side sits up over the paper edge.
- Spoon the cheesecake batter over the top of the cookie, up to the edge of the paper liner. To "shape" these, I double-lined the no-bake cheesecakes and carefully set them down into a muffin tin to refrigerate.
- Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
- When the cheesecake has set, place the chocolate chips and the heavy cream into a small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until the chocolate has melted (you may need to raise the heat gradually just a little bit). Then stir in the butter until smooth.
- Drizzle the chocolate over each of the cheesecakes. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts over the melted chocolate.
- Refrigerate just a little longer so the chocolate can set.
#1- If you wanna go the quick route, skip over the first 9 ingredients and use store-bought cookies. Chocolate chip or anything you like with peanut butter really. #2- The cookie recipe makes about 25 uniformly sized cookies. You'll have leftovers! Or you could double the cheesecake recipe if you need to serve more.
No-bake cheesecake adapted from THIS recipe at How Sweet It Is