HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
It seems one of the most common symbols associated with Valentine’s Day are heart shapes, used to decorate cards, gift boxes, wrapping paper, cakes, cookies, candies, etc. etc. In April 2016, I had posted a blog reminiscing about a memory I had from the fifties. It referred back to the ‘invention’ of the ‘cut-up’ cakes. One of these was a heart-shaped cake covered in Baker’s Angel Flake coconut and decorated with some of those little spicy, cinnamon heart candies. Here’s a tidbit of ‘red hot’ info I found interesting. In the 1930’s, Ferrara Pan Candy Company (USA) created the famous ‘Red Hot” candies, otherwise known as cinnamon hearts, using the cold panned candy method. This process involved building candy pieces from candy centers and tossing them into revolving pans while adding flavor, color and other candy ingredients. This process continues until the pieces become the desired size.
Brion loves these hot, spicy little hearts. It seems if he has some once a year that satisfies the craving which is probably more nostalgic than anything. Of course if there are a few too many around, there are numerous vintage recipes using them such as applesauce, apple pie, jell-o and so on.
In keeping with Valentines Day, I wanted to do something with the color red and add a little spiciness of my own. Here you have it CHERRY CHAI CHEESECAKE BITES!
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- 3/4 cups (15 cookies) ginger snap cookies, finely crushed
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 250 grams cream cheese,
- 1 egg
- 1/4-1/2 cup sugar (adjust to your taste)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cardamom, ground
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 540 ml cherry pie filling
Ingredients
Crust
Cheesecakes
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- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 12 mini muffin pans with cooking spray or use a mini cheesecake pan with the removable bottoms.
- In a blender of food processor, finely crush the gingersnap cookies. Transfer to a large mixing bowl & add melted butter. Mix well. Spoon about 1 Tbsp crumb mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup. Press to create a mini 'pie crust'.
- In another mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, pumpkin pie spice. Using a mixer, beat for 2-3 minutes until smooth & creamy. Divide filling between the 12 'cups'.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove & let cool for 5 minutes or so. Run a knife around edges to loosen cheesecakes; carefully flip the tins over to remove cheesecakes from pans.
- To Serve: Place cheesecake bites on serving dish. Top with cherry pie filling (about 2 cherries each).
- Recipe was adapted from cookingcontestcentral.com