Individual Red Velvet Oreo Cheesecakes

I know you're thinking that I must have some kind of weird obsession with 'velvet' desserts. This is my second velvet dessert in 2 weeks. It's almost Valentine's Day, though, and I couldn't possibly let it go by without a sweet little red dessert to share.

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? I don't like to make a big deal out of it, personally. I love using it as an excuse to just find something fun to do with Shaun. Over the last few years, we've been known to hit up Shake Shack, Bobby's Burger Palace and a nice little brunch, instead of going out for a big fancy dinner (though we've definitely done many of those during the first few years we were dating). This year, we plan to have brunch on Sunday at my favorite Jersey City spot, The Lighthorse Tavern, and for the actual V-day, we plan to simply make a nice dinner at home. I think steak will be involved. :)

But back to dessert. I made little cheesecakes.

Isn't it pretty? I am obsessed with that deep red color. Oh and the whipped cream. I really love whipped cream.

And they aren't just any little cheesecakes. Nope. These have a whole Oreo on the bottom, white chocolate chips throughout, and a gorgeous red velvet color. They are rich, sweet and a perfect dessert for any day really. That's why I made them into individual servings...so you can have a treat anytime without feeling like you are eating a decadent slice of cheesecake. Ya know?

Oh!

And I almost forgot to mention that these little guys clock in at 4 Weight Watchers Points+ per cheesecake. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Individual Red Velvet Oreo Cheesecakes
Yields 24 cheesecakes
4 WW Points+ per cheesecake

24 reduced fat Oreo cookies
2 1/2 pkg reduced fat cream cheese (20 oz total), softened slightly
1 C granulated sugar
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 small bottles red food coloring
2/3 C white chocolate chips
whipped cream

special equipment:
foil baking cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin tins with foil baking cups and drop an Oreo cookie in the bottom of each. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Beat in the sugar and cocoa on medium speed until light and fluffy. Pour in vanilla and food coloring; beat to combine well. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix thoroughly. Make sure you scrape down the bowl, turn over the ingredients that have sunk to the bottom. You want to make sure it's all gorgeously red and not lumpy.

Add white chocolate chips and stir until combined. Pour batter into baking cups, filling them about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake 20 minutes or until centers are firm. Cool for 10 minutes in baking pan. Remove cups from pan and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze for future use!

Serve with 2 Tbsp whipped cream per cheesecake.

I really love these! I think they just turned out so pretty and were fairly easy to make. I definitely set a couple aside for Valentine's Day. I love that they are already in individual servings, so there's no temptation to go overboard. Each of us gets one, and end it there. It's my kind of dessert.

Questions of the Day:

Are you into Valentine's Day?

If so, what are you doing for it?

Do you like individually portioned desserts?

Say Cheese!

As you may remember, my simply amazing (albeit injured) husband got me a pretty sweet (as in, thoughtful AND rockin'!) Valentine's Day gift. Though we usually don't exchange big gifts, this year he surprised me with a shiny, brand new Kindle. I know, my jaw was on the floor with surprise while I simultaneously squealed with excitement.

Of course, this absolutely upped the pressure that I get him something pretty fabulous as well. Since we long wanted to {finally} try out a Mario Batali restaurant together (I had only been to Otto in the past, where this classy photo was taken...),

I thought it would be the perfect, surprise gift for my husband who always, always takes me out for dinner. A little table turning, if you will. And since I wanted to get a little creative with my gift (you know, rather than just proclaiming Happy Mario Batali Dinner Date Day!), I created a cheesetastic poem to announce our future date. Did I mention that I also read it aloud to him with perfect inflection, eye winks and all?

I attached it to a bundle of Mario Batali menus from all of his restaurants in NYC so that Shaun could pick which he wanted to try. And because I love you guys too, I thought I'd share my foray into sappy, cheesy greeting card writing here on the blog. It's a first for me, so I hope you enjoy.

To my love
It’s Valentine’s Day
and what can I say?

My sweet honey pie
I’m not gonna lie
You’re the love of my life
and I adore being your wife

A love that will never end
You’re my very best friend
Just thinking about you makes me smile
For you, I’d swim the Nile ;)

Your gift was so sweet
I just couldn’t compete
I scoured the (online) mall but,
what’s better than an e-book after all?

So I pondered and obsessed
And discounted all the rest
And then I thought, hey that’s it!
A romantic dinner that’s candlelit

Mario Batali is the guy
Let’s hope his shorts don’t show any thigh
You choose the place if you get my gist
For next Friday evening is the date of our tryst

I really hope that you like this idea
Or a sad little wife I will be a
If you’re smiling, I’ll say “Phew!”
Because I’m simply incomplete without you

I love you more each day
in every single way
...so I really hope you’ll say
Take me out on a date next Friday!

Still there? Don't worry the cheese factor isn't lost on me, and as soon as Shaun decided on Otto as his choice, he proclaimed that I just had to share this on the blog. So tonight is the night of our date and I'm so excited! I actually have been to Otto before, but Shaun has not. The cheese platter with brandied bing cherries and truffled honey alone is worth the trip.

Yep, I've been dreaming about this since the last time I was there. In fact, the truffled honey is worthy of Best Thing I Ever Ate status. I cannot wait to finally take Shaun here so he can understand what I've been raving about for the last 1+ years.

So that's how Shaun and I will be enjoying his Valentine's Gift this evening. Not too shabby huh? So for today's question, I just want to know...what super sappy/cheesetastic things have you done for a loved one?

Blood Orange + Berry Shortcakes (or Bloody Sunday Valentines)

I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend! Shaun and I were super duper busy, but had a fantastic weekend. Yesterday, we spent the day dining on brunch (stay tuned for that update tomorrow), seeing The King's Speech (has anyone else seen it?) and eating a candlelit dinner at home topped off with watching the Grammy's in our pj's. Good times.

In addition to cooking dinner together last night (one of our favorite activities), I wanted to make a fun dessert. Since Shaun isn't exactly a dessert fiend, I wanted to come up with something that was not cakey, filled with frosting or overly sweet.

I know, at that point it's like why even bother?

But trust me on this one. Though it's not buttercreamy or Devil's foody (my favorite dessert combination), this dessert is bursting with flavor and just the right amount of sweetness with a bit of dryness from the biscuit. Oh and the homemade whipped cream is just the icing on the...er, cake, if you will. But seriously, the homemade whipped cream is where it's at. Shaun had to practically pry the bowl from my hands. And clearly a normal, human-sized spoon wasn't enough for me. Nope, I went all-out rubber spatula.

Oh and the blood orange thing? It was a last minute add-in when I spotted one at the grocery store on Sunday morning. Though I'm all to familiar with them from my Dexter obsession, I've never actually tried one before. And it spawned 2 names of this dish. You can probably guess which was mine and which was Shaun's.

But I have to tell you that this addition really made the dish. Not only are they absolutely gorgeous, but they added a not-too-tart, citrusy burst of flavor to the strawberries and blueberries. Ready to see how it all went down?

Blood Orange + Berry Shortcakes
or
Sunday Bloody Valentine's
*Adapted from Epicurious & Real Simple
3/4 C sugar
1 lemon peel, grated
2 C flour
2 1/3 C heavy cream, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (or omit if you're opposed to this flavor)
2 C strawberries, hulled & quartered
1 C blueberries
1 blood orange, peeled and sliced into wedges
1/4 C confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the biscuits:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the sugar and lemon zest. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the flour, 1/3 cup of lemon sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add 1 1/3 cup of heavy cream and mix until the dough comes together. Drop into 6 mounds onto an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with lemon sugar and bake for 20-23 minutes. Let cool.

For the fruit filling:
Wash and cut the fruit. Toss together in a mixing bowl. Add in the rest of the sugar, mix until all is coated and let sit for 15 minutes (this is macerating!), stirring every so often.

For the whipped cream:
In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer), mix 1 cup of the heavy cream, confectioners sugar and vanilla on medium high until peaks begin to form. Sample it, just to make sure it's delish :)

Put it together:

Cut the biscuits in half. Spoon on some of the fruit, followed by a dollop of whipped cream. Top with other half of biscuit.

It seems like a lot of steps, but I swear, this was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made. So what do you think? Are you a fan of fruit in your dessert? Or is it just not a dessert if it doesn't include frosting? And bonus question: have you ever worked with blood oranges?