Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cheesecakes

I found a wonderful recipe to try the other day, over at Mom in Time Out for Reese's Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes.  She has the most amazing recipes AND takes the greatest photos - when I grow up, I want to be like her!

I took her recipe and tweaked it a couple of ways.  You can take a look at her recipe HERE and decide which you'd like... or do both!  I wanted to try a different base and went for that little bit of saltiness with pretzels.  You can go for sweet with graham crackers, if you'd prefer.

The second change we made was to go with PEANUT BUTTER cheesecake, rather than plain.  It was definitely decadent and a great idea, but then again, what have you made with chocolate and peanut butter that isn't? 

There are a few steps involved, but they are worth it!

Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cheesecakes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup crushed pretzels or graham cracker crumbs
• 3 Tbls sugar
• 3 Tbls butter, melted
• 12 Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
• 16 oz (2 - 8 oz packages) cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line muffin tin with paper cups.
2. Crush pretzels (or graham crackers) in a food processor or place them in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin.
3. Mix crumbs with sugar and melted butter in a small bowl to combine.
4. Add some into the bottom of each cup and press – I use my fingers J
5. Remove Reese's from wrappers and put one in the center of each cup.
6. Time to make cheesecake! Beat the cream cheese until fluffy.   Add sugar, flour and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add in the eggs one at time.  It gets a bit funny, but don’t give up – keep mixing until they are incorporated.  It WILL happen!
7. Scoop about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the cream cheese mixture over each Reese's cup. Bake for approximately 25 minutes until they are set.
8. Once they are cooled, drizzle with melted chocolate.  

This recipe makes 12 cheesecakes.

So, here's the excuse you needed to go grab some Reese's cups... or do we need an excuse?  Either way, go get some!  We'll think of a way to deal with the rest of the bag, somehow.

Happy cooking!
Carrie